Choir of more than 100 people perform without masks at Pence event

[spanone]

Washington (CNN)A choir of more than 100 people performed without masks at a robustly attended event in Texas at the First Baptist Church on Sunday that featured a speech by Vice President Mike Pence.

Nearly 2,200 people attended the "Celebrate Freedom Rally," in the Lone Star State, according to rally organizers, which has seen a severe surge in coronavirus cases since easing restrictions. The venue capacity for the indoor event was close to 3,000 attendees, organizers say.

Throughout the service, the members of the choir sang at full volume, behind an orchestra. Between songs, the choir members put their masks back on when they sat down, according to pool reports from the event. The members of the choir had space between them, but it was not clear if it was the recommended six feet.

Face masks at the event were "strongly encouraged," with signs posted around the venue signaling the suggestion. According to pool reports from the event, at least half of the crowd was wearing a face covering, an act which experts say can reduce the transmission of Covid-19 by as much as 50%.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/mike-pence-dallas-choir-no-masks-church-event/index.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. A thousand facepalms for that one.

It doesn't do much good to put the masks back on after you're finished singing because singing is what spreads the damn virus. It's like wiping your butt after you've put your pants back on.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. Lol! Good analogy. nt

[spanone]

22. Bwahahahaahahahaaa🤡

So true.....& Azar out there telling us today that we're running out of time. TELL THAT TO THE FUCKING president, azar

[ananda]

27. No joke. 80% will get the virus.

They are truly insane.

[lark]

2. When they announced he wasn't holding lots of events, I was hoping that included this.

No such luck for my friends and family in the Dallas area, he did go there and 2200 people (or maybe 1100) are exposed.

[Phoenix61]

3. We know what happened with just the choir

practice in another state. You know this choir has been practicing for at least a week to ensure they would sound great for Pence.

[leftieNanner]

5. And if they were standing behind the orchestra

Their "droplets" were spewed all over them too.

This is absolutely nuts.

Plus you have to be standing a lot farther away than 6 feet if you are singing.

[Grins]

16. Yes! Oregon or Washington choir

Months ago. Can’t recall all the details but about 80 people. In a rehearsal. No audience. And no masks. Covid-19 spread? About 25 in a matter of DAYS!

And singing is projecting! The virus travels further when singing vs. conversation.

This was not a secret. Surprised this “mega-church” either wasn’t aware - or flat out didn’t care.

[LisaL]

18. More than 25. Almost all got infected.

"The CDC says 87 percent of the singers at the March 10 rehearsal developed Covid-19."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/us/coronavirus-washington-choir-outbreak-trnd/index.html

[Karadeniz]

4. So much for separation of church and state...

[Faux pas]

6. If

covid only killed the ignorant and the assholes, I wouldn't care!

[Freethinker65]

7. Testing faith and fate

[Buckeye_Democrat]

8. They put the masks back on... AFTER singing each song!

[dem4decades]

12. The proverbial barn door.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Yeah, Because When We're Singing...

...hardly any sputum or mucous droplets are expelled. And hardly any air flow.
Hardly

[forgotmylogin]

15. Gawd. I did theater for years and I've been inadvertently spat on so many times.

Whilst singing and speaking with projection and enunciating. I've done it too. It's the Ps and the Ts!

In choir, the front row of risers was always known as the "spit zone". Frikking director: "If the front row isn't getting wet you're not doing it right!"

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Playing in Bands...

...the top of the guitar and all the keys on those instruments had spots.
Had to clean all that before they into cases at the end of the night.
Removed wind screens on mikes to clean about once a month, but disinfected the screens and guard before each gig.
Singing makes a mess.
A really good way to spread aerosols.

[Gothmog]

9. Another super spreader event

[Alacritous Crier]

10. This is not Christian...

it's CRIMINAL!!!

GOTV

[Mike 03]

13. Did you guys see this tweet from the daughter of a person in the choir?

Link to tweet

?s=20

Text: I do find it a little funny that, just like Trump's rally, I see a lot of empty rows. Good. My mom unfortunately is in the choir. She gave me 4 names this past week of church members who had tested positive for covid.

[SWBTATTReg]

32. Freedom Sundays leads to Monday Illnesses and Deaths (a couple of weeks later)!

How irresponsible. And as one DU poster had mentioned, there was another choir that practiced and many of them came down w/ the CV.

I hope your Mom is ok.

[spanone]

34. Jeebus Christo

[Music Man]

17. As a choir teacher, this mortifies me.

What an embarrassment.

[Poiuyt]

20. 6 feet of separation would not be enough for a choir

When you sing, you are pushing air out from the bottom of your lungs (chest voice) and doing so with a lot of force. It's much worse than regular conversation.

I had been singing in a church choir before all this started. Our choir director sent us all an article about the dangers of group singing with regard to this virus. I know he would be devastated if we came back too soon and someone ended up getting sick because of it.

BTW, we had to cancel several major events because of the virus. Our health is more important than performing for the likes of Mike Pence. Fuck him!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

25. Unfortunately this is all true.

I belong to a small choral ensemble that performs mostly early music. There are only 12 of us but that's still too many for safe rehearsals and performances, so we had to cancel the rest of our season and we might not have one next year either. Nobody is singing right now. It's sad and we all miss it terribly but we're not going to risk our health or our audiences' health (assuming anyone would show up). The performing arts are really being hit hard but all we can do is wait.

[Poiuyt]

33. I can relate

I chose the choir I'm in because they do a lot of classical music—Mozart, Bach, etc. I really miss it.

[Golden Raisin]

21. I suspect we're going to soon see a lot of positive diagnoses.

And some in the choir, orchestra and packed church may be meeting Jesus sooner than they expected.

[spanone]

23. This is why the European Union wants nothing to do with us.

IDIOCRACY

[Hermit-The-Prog]

24. But they wore the magic masks between spewing sessions!

[spanone]

37. and today pence was with gov abbott in texas telling folks to wear masks.

this administration is killing AMERICANS DAY BY SAY

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

26. And whoever Pence and Trump finally meet, it's not gonna be Jesus.

[dsc]

28. As the board chair of a gay men's chorus I really can't express just how angry this makes me

We have all but decided we won't so much as rehearse until January. We haven't rehearsed since early March. We miss it terribly. I am so angry.

[soothsayer]

30. Pretty inspirational vids of choirs rehearsing on zoom

Maybe you can try it and see? If nothing else, you can connect.

Hopefully this gets behind us at some point.

Hang in there.

[dsc]

35. rehearsing on zoom is all but impossible

we are looking into doing one song via video to keep our presence up and are doing some social things on zoom. The delay in sound from place to place makes zoom not very good for rehearsal unfortunately.

[fierywoman]

29. Dead meat.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

31. Zero accountability for Pence because there will be no contact tracing.

I want to know how much money they solicited out of that crowd and how they did it.

This is the Republican version of leading by example......

[torius]

36. The Rapture

is nigh!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

38. Kick