Anyone else worried about winter concerts?

[Anonymous]

I'll admit that, even pre-COVID, I was shocked by how crowded the winter concerts were. Our MS does the choir, orchestra and band all on the same night, so they have about 500 kids plus parents all crammed into one room. It was always REALLY crowded and hard to find a seat and it was VERY long (hours), as there are two orchestras and two bands and they each play several songs. We're getting several COVID notifications per day and they want to cram a thousand people into an unventilated room for hours? It's like 25% of their grade, so the kid can't skip without failing, plus I really would like my kid to get the experience of playing in a concert. I don't understand why they aren't doing it differently this year -- breaking it up into several different nights so they can split out choir, orchestra, and band. It will literally be the most densely crowded venue I have been in since the 2019 Holiday concert.

I hope that at least parents don't bring the whole family, like many have in past years.

[Anonymous]

OP, if you don't feel safe going, then don't go. Drop your kid up before, pick your kid up afterward.

[Anonymous]

Here's a description of what Strathmore has implemented (concert venue in Rockville), just so you can compare. DD plays her concerts there because she belongs to MCYO, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras.

Every concert-goer above 2 years of age has to provide proof of vaccination or negative PCR test within 72 hours of the concert time. Anyone concert-goer entering the building over 2 years of age must wear a mask.

For MCYO kids and conductors and all the students and staff coming into the building (they have other instrumental, voice and chorus groups), masks worn must be N95, KN95, or KF94, and/or any specialized singing, woodwind and brass masks and PPE covers for blown instruments. No surgical or cloth masks allowed. They must all show proof of vaccination (or have negative PCR tests within 72 hours of showing up for rehearsal), and for the 5-11 group, they will start asking for proof of vaccination in January.

On top of that, the building is disinfected regularly and ventilation was upgraded to something really powerful that recycles all the inside air in 15-20 minutes (I forget the name).

Strathmore has had practically no cases of Covid since the beginning of the year, thanks to these draconian measures.

I know some of these things cannot be implemented in public schools, but I just wanted to share what kind of measures are needed to keep Delta at bay. Omicron is much more transmissible, so we'll see whether we can still keep going next year.

I think the N95/KN95/KF94 mask selection could be implemented in public schools, though, if public school systems bought a stock for students and staff - publics in our area are well-funded and can well afford them! The presence of barely protective cloth or surgical masks in crowded school settings contributes to spread.

[Anonymous]

^ I forgot to mention an important app they use, "Clear to Go", which is a health questionnaire that students fill out the afternoon before their evening rehearsal. If they have any two of the listed symptoms or have traveled to a Covid hotspot within the past 14 days, they cannot attend rehearsal. If all is clear, they are given a QR code to scan when they enter the building. Of course, it's an honor system, but it makes it harder to ignore symptoms or travel... and orchestra/chorus families are an honest bunch, on the whole

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know what the 9:30 Club is doing? That seems equally relevant.

[Anonymous]

I was surprised that the winter concerts were happening. It was really nice to go, but admit that it felt like one of the riskier things we've done since 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what the 9:30 Club is doing? That seems equally relevant.

They require vaccination of attendees, and MCPS doesn’t seem inclined to go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll admit that, even pre-COVID, I was shocked by how crowded the winter concerts were. Our MS does the choir, orchestra and band all on the same night, so they have about 500 kids plus parents all crammed into one room. It was always REALLY crowded and hard to find a seat and it was VERY long (hours), as there are two orchestras and two bands and they each play several songs. We're getting several COVID notifications per day and they want to cram a thousand people into an unventilated room for hours? It's like 25% of their grade, so the kid can't skip without failing, plus I really would like my kid to get the experience of playing in a concert. I don't understand why they aren't doing it differently this year -- breaking it up into several different nights so they can split out choir, orchestra, and band. It will literally be the most densely crowded venue I have been in since the 2019 Holiday concert.

I hope that at least parents don't bring the whole family, like many have in past years.

I would have to bring the whole family or find/pay for a sitter. Which would be tricky since my sitters would also be in the concert! Just a note to not assume that people there with other kids are jerks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what the 9:30 Club is doing? That seems equally relevant.

I feel like the 9:30 club is different -- that's clearly a private group where people chose to go. (Although I do think they are requiring proof of vaccination, like most concert venues.) I just don't understand why, with all the restrictions that they continue to put on students that actually impact education, they couldn't just say that they will break the concert up into small component parts. Do 6th grade band at 7, do 7th grade band at 8, do 8th grade band at 9. Then do the same with orchestra on a different night. If you havne't been to one of these concerts before, it's hard to express how incredibly crowded they are. There's over a thousand kids at the school, and I think half do band or orchestra.

I may skip, but my kid still has to sit in the auditorium for 3 hours with all those people. And I really don't want to skip -- I'd like to hear my kid play -- but this seems like the least safe thing I've done for two years, so I'm really debating, particularly given the high number of cases at this particular school. And I'm wondering why MCPS didn't make any alterations to the historical way these concerts have been done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll admit that, even pre-COVID, I was shocked by how crowded the winter concerts were. Our MS does the choir, orchestra and band all on the same night, so they have about 500 kids plus parents all crammed into one room. It was always REALLY crowded and hard to find a seat and it was VERY long (hours), as there are two orchestras and two bands and they each play several songs. We're getting several COVID notifications per day and they want to cram a thousand people into an unventilated room for hours? It's like 25% of their grade, so the kid can't skip without failing, plus I really would like my kid to get the experience of playing in a concert. I don't understand why they aren't doing it differently this year -- breaking it up into several different nights so they can split out choir, orchestra, and band. It will literally be the most densely crowded venue I have been in since the 2019 Holiday concert.

I hope that at least parents don't bring the whole family, like many have in past years.

No. Doi you just create stuff to worry about?

[Anonymous]

Our HS's fall and winter concerts followed what are apparently the current MCPS regulations for events like this:

—Masks required for attendees and performers (in our case, dancers, band, and chorus)
—At least one empty seat between families (or groups attending together) in the audience
—QR code in the program for mandatory contact tracing info (enter your party's seat numbers and contact info for one central person in the party)
—No food or drink sold or served on the premises, to avoid maskless eating

It certainly didn't feel 100% safe, but it could have been worse. At the fall concert the lobby was really crowded, so next time we went early and waited until the theater had mostly emptied to avoid those crowds.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Ours is Thursday and I’m nervous. But also—Moco has a high vaccination rate and high masking compliance, so as good as it’s going to get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what the 9:30 Club is doing? That seems equally relevant.

They require vaccination of attendees, and MCPS doesn’t seem inclined to go there.

Our orchestra had a concert and had a positive announcement within a day. Huge concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll admit that, even pre-COVID, I was shocked by how crowded the winter concerts were. Our MS does the choir, orchestra and band all on the same night, so they have about 500 kids plus parents all crammed into one room. It was always REALLY crowded and hard to find a seat and it was VERY long (hours), as there are two orchestras and two bands and they each play several songs. We're getting several COVID notifications per day and they want to cram a thousand people into an unventilated room for hours? It's like 25% of their grade, so the kid can't skip without failing, plus I really would like my kid to get the experience of playing in a concert. I don't understand why they aren't doing it differently this year -- breaking it up into several different nights so they can split out choir, orchestra, and band. It will literally be the most densely crowded venue I have been in since the 2019 Holiday concert.

I hope that at least parents don't bring the whole family, like many have in past years.

I would have to bring the whole family or find/pay for a sitter. Which would be tricky since my sitters would also be in the concert! Just a note to not assume that people there with other kids are jerks.

One parent stays home. Simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know what the 9:30 Club is doing? That seems equally relevant.

They require vaccination of attendees, and MCPS doesn’t seem inclined to go there.

Our orchestra had a concert and had a positive announcement within a day. Huge concern.

Well, clearly they didn't get Covid at the concert if the positive case was announced the next day. And unless you had multiple positive cases among attendees over the next week, then that one case didn't spread it at the concert, either. So whatever precautions were taken must have worked.