From Lincoln Center to local groups, NYC’s arts community plans gradual comeback from COVID-19
Shant Shahrigian
Nearly a year after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted authorities to shut down performances and public gatherings, devastating the city’s world-famous arts sector, the show will go back on.
Venues from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to a jazz stage in Queens are cautiously planning their first live programming in the brave new world of social distancing and audience size limits.
As in the rest of the country, recent weeks have seen the city’s COVID numbers gradually go down — the average positive test rate was 6.86% as of last Wednesday, according to city Health Department stats, down from a recent peak of 9.7% on Jan. 3. While concern about new variants of the deadly virus remains high, the sense of panic that pervaded when Gov. Cuomo shut down large venues on March 13, 2020, has faded.