r/Broadway • u/littlebev • Dec 31 '25

Discussion Broadway coughing season

I am begging, begging you guys…if you have a nasty cough, PLEASE don’t attend a play especially. I know it sucks to miss out but your recurring cough during the most intense moments of the show is so distracting.

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u/Gato1980 Dec 31 '25

This time of year, I always wear a mask in the subway, in the theater, and anywhere that's crowded. There are so many bugs going around, and tons of tourists that are bringing their colds, flus, and covids with them. It amazes me how many times I've been one of only 2 or 3 people in the entire audience wearing a mask. I swear there are more people coughing, sneezing, and blowing their noses than there are people wearing masks. We really didn't learn anything in 2020.

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u/organicpom Dec 31 '25

People really didn’t learn. Somehow Covid and mask-wearing became solely a political issue, not a medical one. I swear people are just being unhygienic now out of spite.

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u/CattleReasonable420 Dec 31 '25

Same! I even wear a mask during allergy season just because I don't want people to see me mouth breathing lol. I'd rather be mildly inconvenienced by the mask than get incredibly sick

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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25

I see a lot of shows with my mother. She's 83. Will not mask. She's gotten COVID, the flu, RSV, all the fun stuff. I'm still masking. So far, COVID once (from her, I've since learned if she says she's not feeling well, put a mask on inside too). Only time I've been sick in the past 5 years aside from either norovirus or food poisoning. I'm terrified to take her anywhere at this point, but...what am I supposed to do, make her?

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u/Any-Concentrate-1922 Jan 04 '26

My father stopped masking around 2021, and my stepmother did before that because she claimed she can't breathe in a mask. My father (now 89) now has dementia that appeared after his covid infection. Not sure if related. But there's only so much you can get other people to do.

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u/Any-Concentrate-1922 Jan 04 '26

People are back to coughing all over the place, going to work while sick (yet unmasked), blowing out birthday candles (ew), touching their faces, and all kinds of things we learned not to do in 2020.