Posted on 03/29/2020 10:36:56 PM PDT by rintintin
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — With the coronavirus quickly spreading in Washington state in early March, leaders of the Skagit Valley Chorale debated whether to go ahead with weekly rehearsal.
The virus was already killing people in the Seattle area, about an hour’s drive to the south.
But Skagit County hadn’t reported any cases, schools and business remained open, and prohibitions on large gatherings had yet to be announced.
On March 6, Adam Burdick, the choir’s conductor, informed the 121 members in an email that amid the “stress and strain of concerns about the virus,” practice would proceed as scheduled at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church.
“I’m planning on being there this Tuesday March 10, and hoping many of you will be, too,” he wrote.
Sixty singers showed up. A greeter offered hand sanitizer at the door, and members refrained from the usual hugs and handshakes.
“It seemed like a normal rehearsal, except that choirs are huggy places,” Burdick recalled. “We were making music and trying to keep a certain distance between each other.”
After 2 1/2 hours, the singers parted ways at 9 p.m.
Nearly three weeks later, 45 have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or ill with the symptoms, at least three have been hospitalized, and two are dead.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
What age does one become a geezer?
Sixty.
You’re 50?
Thanks for that information. May God bless your efforts to help those who are afflicted with this terrible disease.
So basically they met 3 weeks ago, March 9th,
2 days before CDC initial warning and
4 days prior to nationwide closing of large gatherings.
Nope. 61. I faced facts on my 60th birthday. My line of work is monument inscription. As far back as the early 80s I’d noticed that that 6th decade of life was when the dying started in earnest. I’m cutting my decade of birth as well as the year of my birth all the time now...
I belong to a community choir in Northern NJ. By chance, I took the Spring season off. We have a mix of people from 20 to 90, which is wonderful. We treasure our older members.
They were rehearsing until early March. I hope they were not as unlucky. So far, all seems well.
It is more than entertainment. For a lot of members, that weekly choir rehearsal is the high point of their week.
I give a 90 year old gentleman a ride to rehearsals from time to time. When I go to pick him up at his assisted living complex, he is like a rock star. He has these young folks picking him up for fun in the evenings. Occasionally a young woman is dropping him off at midnight after drinks with the choir at a local bar. It is an important part of his life.
That’s a mighty big coincidence considering only about .5% of the state has been diagnosed
“Let’s take it again from measure 32. This time Forte Coronamosso! I want to feel it, people. And a one and a two and a...”
Spend your dash well...
What’s that saying, “Do stupid things win stupid prizes”
Nobody forced these people to go to the practice. While the motivation may have been noble, they were all free to opt out, considering the circumstances. I don’t blame the director.
One year older then me.
How many of those who didn’t go to practice have it?
60?
That’s a BIG choir!
How many did NOT show up?
Oh; I just saw 121.
all those audio inputs at once should drive the screen selector nuts; trying to figure out which member to show!
Less than me!
yup
this geezer was in the choir; but that was 20 years ago; before they got phased out; hoping that the ‘new’ music would bring folks in.
It didn’t.
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