New York City is canceling some of Broadway’s biggest shows, including “Tina,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” and “Ain’t Too Proud” over the fear of the new COVID-19 omicron variant, according to reports.
The shows “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Freestyle Love Supreme” have also canceled a series of performances.
The show “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” announced it was postponing performances until next week “due to a limited number of positive covid test results within the Broadway company.”
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that New York and New Jersey are tracking infections of the omicron variant at a rate four times higher than the national average, NBC New York reported.
Broadway was shut down throughout most of 2020 and announced in July that all theatergoers would have to be vaccinated to attend shows in New York City.
The statewide average of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 was up 58% since Thanksgiving. The sharp increase, which New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul called “alarming,” caused her to issue an indoor mask mandate, according to Fox 5 New York.
Hochul was asked about state data showing the Manhattan region has the lowest rate of disease transmission in the state, according to the New York Post.
“Well, this is not — there’s very little difference between what we’re doing and what New York City has already done,” Hochul said. “So, if New York City had been — had not had taken their own steps, then we would have absolutely had that surgical approach.”
“And I would have looked at the numbers and seen [hospital] bed capacity, which is pretty good here in New York City; watching that closely,” the governor added. “Infections were not high.”
