“Alas, poor country!”

The stars have aligned in recent weeks.

An amazing number of this critic’s circle of acquaintances have succumbed to COVID-19 in recent weeks. Rather than a few sniffles for a day or two, the majority have been laid low for between one and two weeks and even five or six weeks afterwards are still suffering from serious symptoms, especially fatigue. One even spent a week in hospital.

Secondly, a press release was issued from the grassroots advocacy campaign “Protect the Heart of the Arts” announcing that it was sounding the alarm on the Long COVID crisis for performing artists, of which more later.

Thirdly, a critic-friend has been very unlucky of late, since a number of performances that she was planning to review were cancelled at very short notice due to illness, which she assumes was down to COVID.

To cap it all off, after months of silence, the media has finally allowed an expert to have his say. His estimate was that one in 24 of the population is currently suffering from the virus. Expressed differently, this equates to over 4,150 for every 100,000. Those with long memories might recall that in the early days when the government was at sixes and sevens, after a couple of European countries reached 25 per hundred thousand, we banned their citizens from entering the UK.

Amazingly, the country remains in denial about this pernicious threat.

Nobody is being enjoined to remain at home if they are feeling ill, tests are no longer free and, as the expert on the radio pointed out, vaccinations are restricted to the over-65s and those with poor health. This means that most over-50s have not had a jab for one year or more and those younger at least two, leading to the virus spreading more widely.

What has this got to do with the theatre today? The answers lie in two directions, one a legacy of the past and the other ongoing.

As somebody who is still suffering from long COVID after almost four years, having caught the virus during the period between the time when experts felt that the country should have been closed down and the day when it was, this is still a hot topic.

Following the ultimate superspreader event known as Christmas, there is every chance that far more than one in 24 of the population are now spreading their germs.

An already struggling theatre community should really be considering some sensible steps. Performance and backstage crew should be tested on a regular basis. Companies could also follow the example of the Finborough Theatre. This is a venue above a pub not too far from Chelsea’s football ground, which is always enterprising in its programming and still maintains mask-only performances, although these are now restricted to Sunday matinées.

The most powerful message on this topic is that expressed by Protect the Heart of the Arts, which reminded us that between 6.6% and 10.3% of the population already have long COVID and distributed masks ahead of a performance of Macbeth starring David Tennant at the Donmar Warehouse. The message accompanying a campaign entitled “Alas, poor country!” is simple but powerful.

“Protect the Heart of the Arts” are asking for a reintroduction of audience masking at select performances at London theatres, in response to the UK’s escalating long COVID crisis. Volunteers will distribute masks and information cards about preventing COVID transmission, in order to protect cast, staff and audience members.

Crowded indoor spaces are the highest risk for people infecting others with COVID (SARS-CoV-2). Many performers, crew, and venue staff are either on long-term sick leave with long COVID, or no longer working due to the high risk of reinfection.

There are two views of Boris Johnson. Some continue to regard him as a second Churchill, only better. Others see the former prime minister as an amoral scoundrel who was hounded out of office in disgrace—and those are just the opinions of Conservative MPs.

As those who have followed the COVID Inquiry discovered, the general conclusion is that many of the key decisions were slow and incoherent, reflecting the personality of the man at the top.

Virtually the only decision that was made precipitately came a couple of years ago when BJ unilaterally decided that COVID no longer existed. Hence this debate.

The question is whether theatres and theatregoers want to trust Boris Johnson or, in his oft-stated words, “follow the science”.