Music Monday - staying vigilant

Yesterday the WA Chapter of ANATS (Australian Association of Teachers of Singing) held its AGM. We are the only state to hold our AGM in person this year, and at the meeting there was a real sense of how very lucky we are on the west coast of Australia that currently we have no community transmission of Covid-19. Life feels pretty normal right now.

And yet the situation could change in a matter of days. All it takes is a single breach of the rules from a returned international traveller or staff at a quarantine hotel doing the wrong thing and the virus could take off again.

And there is a potential danger in the kind of complacency we are starting to feel in the west.

In the past few days I have observed a number of behaviors which would be risky with even a slightly larger higher viral load here.

I attended a high school music theatre performance on Friday evening. It was SO good to be back in the theatre. But although the theatre seating had been sold at only fifty percent of capacity (in line with the current restrictions) there was no actual separation of patrons inside the theatre. We were seated next to each other with no spare seats between. Of course, there was less congestion than usual in the foyer, but any virus here would have had ample opportunity to spread during the show.

Furthermore, at both of my workplaces recently I have had the awkward experience of being in a toilet cubicle when the cubicle alongside was vacated- then no sound of water running at the wash basin followed - ie no hand washing.

I too have definitely caught myself being less constantly vigilant about frequent hand washing and hand sanitizing lately. But FaceTime chats with our daughter and her husband in the USA are a stark reminder of how much worse things could be. And tend to pull me back on track.

As arts workers we make close physical contact with each other on a daily basis. Singing and woodwind playing produce significant aerosols. Many pianists play the same piano. Dance routines often involve touch. So many scenes in plays involve embracing and kissing.

In order to inch slowly towards being able to do all of these things again we must stay vigilant in doing what science tells us to do in this pandemic: wash our hands regularly, avoid touching our face, keep a social distance from each other and where required- wear a mask.