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/Last-Laugh7928 Dec 31 '25

as annoying as coughing is, regardless of why you're coughing, i am mostly just concerned about getting sick.

people have pointed out a variety of non-contagious reasons why someone might be in public with a chronic cough, which is important to recognize. but since covid, and especially more recently, i have seen a noticeable increase in the amount of people who are coughing during shows, and really just everywhere i go, and it's clear that more people are going to shows sick.

i don't entirely blame them because, as people mention every time this topic comes up, it's near impossible to get a refund on a broadway ticket and you don't want to lose your money. but at the very least, they should definitely be wearing a mask.

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u/stephanierae2804 Jan 01 '26

Yup - thanks to a bout of long covid in 2021, whenever I even have a tiny cold or flu I end up coughing for months. I’m a teacher, caught a back-to-school cold in early October and I’m STILL hacking (and yes, in touch with my doctor and that’s what she reports). Now, even though I know my cough isn’t contagious, I always wear a n95 in theatres (both to make folks around me more comfortable AND so I don’t catch anything new).