NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 31

the first three issues addressed in an
NFPA fact sheet, "Ensuring Safety As
Buildings Re-Open to a New Normal"
(available at nfpa.org/coronavirus),
are egress management, queuing lines,
and occupant flow, all of which must
be managed even in the most docile
reserved-seat environment.
At the end of an event, egress must
be managed in new ways. No longer
can everyone simply stand up en
masse and shuffle toward the exit.
When patrons are allowed to attend
events again-which is gradually happening in some parts of the country
as I write this-most will have to stay
in their seats while people nearest
the exit doors leave first, regardless of
one's desperation to relieve a babysitter or their own bladder.
Because workers are no less susceptible to COVID-19 than patrons,
the same health and safety risks must

are allowed together, infection clusters
among performers and their handlers
are almost inevitable.
At the Event Safety Alliance, of which
I am vice president, we recognized
these operational challenges because
that is what we do and who we are. We
created one of the first pieces of guidance for event professionals, the "Event
Safety Alliance Reopening Guide"
(available at eventsafetyalliance.org),
because we understood the extent to
which this devil really is in the details,
and we correctly anticipated that state
and local reopening plans would be
very general and incorporate widely
varying adherence to science versus
other considerations.
Although we focused primarily on
granular guidance for members of our
own industry, ESA devoted a section
early in its guide to patron compliance.
As far back as early May, when elected

WE ARE FREE TO HOPE FOR THE BEST,
BUT WE SHOULD ALSO MITIGATE THE
REASONABLY FORESEEABLE RISKS. TO
QUOTE HUNTER S. THOMPSON, "CALL ON
GOD, BUT ROW AWAY FROM THE ROCKS."

be managed back-of-house as well.
Testing and face covering are easier
to enforce because they can be written into contracts as a condition of
employment, but loading in equipment, building stages, hanging lights,
applying makeup, and preparing
costumes are all antithetical to social
distancing.
Artists and athletes are problematic
in many respects. Most of them cannot
maintain social distancing while
they suit up to ply their trades, much
less while they are performing. And
because people who breathe hard aerosolize their droplets much farther than
the usual six feet, if they're not all confirmed to be infection-free before they

officials began lifting stay-at-home
orders, we saw safe events as a twopart challenge. On one hand, event
professionals needed to use their operational skills and resources to mitigate
the risk of infection inherent in their
event, venue, and related logistics. But
patrons could blow up the best-laid
plans if they did not comply with the
three simple things public health officials said everyone must do: maintain
social distancing, cover one's nose and
mouth to avoid inhaling someone else's
infected germs, and wash their hands
frequently and thoroughly.
We recognized that compliance
would be a challenge, but we struck
an optimistic note. Under the heading

"How to Change Expectations," we
observed that "at this early moment,
there is as much resistance to face coverings and social distancing as there
was to bag checks and magnetometers
in the United States after 9/11. We got
used to them, and most people came
to accept that they were for our own
safety. A cultural change is necessary
again. Widespread messaging by venue
and event professionals can accomplish two essential goals: (a) patrons
will learn that the new rules are for
their protection, which will eventually
lead to greater compliance; and (b)
transparently showing new sanitary
practices will coax nervous people back
into public places."
More than a month later, the early
returns on the willingness of patrons
to hold up their end of the health and
safety compliance bargain are not
promising. Therein lies the rub for
entertainment and sports events seeking to reopen.

The will of the people
So far, the will of the people seems to
lean heavily toward willful ignorance.
This is hardly surprising given the
actions of many of our public officials,
who refuse to model healthy practices
themselves, thereby undermining
the infection control guidance from
experts such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In May,
for example, the Republican National
Committee presented North Carolina
with a proposal for its national convention, a plan that made no provision
for social distancing or face covering.
Shortly after that state wisely rejected
the proposal, Florida welcomed the
event with open arms. Over subsequent weeks, Florida became a
national hot spot for new coronavirus
infections. Since the learning curve
seems especially steep in the Sunshine
State, it appears that the convention
will go on anyway.
As is true with distressing frequency,
my home state of Arizona serves as a
cautionary tale. Our governor, Doug
Ducey, initially bucked pressure to
loosen the state's pandemic restrictions
when he extended our initial stay-athome order from April 30 to May 15,
N F PA . O R G / J O U R N A L * NFPA JOURNAL

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7/1/20 7:25 PM


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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - July/August 2020

Contents
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 1
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 2
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 3
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Contents
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 5
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 6
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 7
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 8
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 9
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 10
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 11
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 18
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 19
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 21
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 27
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 28
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 29
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 30
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 31
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 32
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 33
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 34
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 35
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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 80
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - Cover4
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