Coronavirus
Broadway to Reopen in September at Full Capacity
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-05T17:37:05+00:00“>May 5, 2021 | 1:37pm ET After more than a year in darkness due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Broadway will finally light its stages once again this fall. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday that New York City’s iconic Broadway theaters will reopen on September 14th at full capacity. “Broadway is at the core of our New York identity, and a big part of our economy which employs countless performers and show creators, and beginning this September, the show will go on,” said Governor Cuomo. “Visitors from all around the world have come to New York to experience the arts and culture and see iconic performances on Broadway, and sadly, the pandemic put...
NYC Is Reopening, But Concerts Are Still Restricted
In New York and New Jersey, capacity limits for most businesses will be replaced with a new distance-based maximum capacity. Retail, food services, gyms and fitness centers, amusement and family entertainment, hair salons, barber shops and other personal care services will be limited by the space available for patrons or parties of patrons to maintain the required social distance of six feet. The entertainment industry, however, will still be limited. As of May 10 in New York, the outdoor social gathering limit will increase from 200 to 500 people. Beginning May 19, the indoor social gathering limit will increase from 100 to 250 people. Music venues can exceed the social gathering limits of 500 people outdoors or 250 people indoors if all att...
Spotify & Fellow Streamers Soared in 2020, But Expect Growth to Slow
Don’t put too much stock in how companies’ quarterly earnings compare year-over-year to 2020. The pandemic caused some services’ subscriptions to spike early in the year (Netflix) or build throughout the year (Spotify). Long-term trends have not changed. On-demand streaming will continue to erode linear programming like cable television and broadcast radio. An odd quarter here or there won’t change the course of technology in entertainment. Streaming video on demand (SVOD) is a battle of titans — AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Apple, Amazon, ViacomCBS — that requires big pockets to survive the war of attrition. Music streaming companies get to focus less on original content and more on technologies to create better user experiences. Un...
EU releases last tranche of $14.5 million to assist Nigeria rollout coronavirus vaccine
The European Union has said $14. 5 million out of the €50 million promised to the Federal Government to assist in the roll out of COVID-19 vaccine would be released this week. The Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria, Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, who addressed newsmen yesterday in Abuja, revealed that already €9 million grant had been released to boost the prevention and response to Coronavirus in Nigeria. “The EU is taking the lead in supporting partner countries, including Nigeria, to tackle the tackle the COVID-19 pandemic by combining resources from the EU, its member states and European financial institutions, under the ‘Team Europe’ initiative. “At the onset of the pandemic in Nigeria, the EU rapidly mobilised €50 million grant in humanitarian aid was given to Nigeria to boost preventio...
Joe Rogan Hits Reverse on Vaccines: “I Believe They Are Safe and I Encourage Many People to Take Them”
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-29T22:14:16+00:00“>April 29, 2021 | 6:14pm ET Earlier this week, Joe Rogan was roundly criticized for telling healthy young people to not get vaccinated against COVID-19, remarking on an episode of his popular podcast, “If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I go no.” Now, via The Hollywood Reporter, he’s walking back those statements, saying on the latest edition of The Joe Rogan Experience that it “makes sense” to get vaccinated to protect other people. It wasn’t quite an unequivocal apology; Rogan spent some time attacking the “click bait” instincts of the media, and questioned why anyone would listen to him in the first pl...
Burning Man 2021 Canceled Due to Coronavirus
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-27T20:27:36+00:00“>April 27, 2021 | 4:27pm ET For the second straight year, Burning Man has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell made the announcement on Tuesday, saying they will “double down” on the event in 2022. Burning Man was originally scheduled for August 26th through September 3rd in Black Rock City, Nevada. Goodell issued the following statement during a live video announcement: “For 2021, we know the need for community has never been stronger, and building community is what Burners do best. We also recognize the pandemic is not over. We’ve heard your feedback, and we’re really grateful for all of the work you have been doing to pre...
Joe Rogan Tells Young People Not to Get COVID-19 Vaccine
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-27T21:25:04+00:00“>April 27, 2021 | 5:25pm ET Joe Rogan, who once coached the contestants of Fear Factor through drinking donkey semen, now says that healthy young people shouldn’t be vaccinated against COVID-19. Via Media Matters, the highly compensated Spotify podcast host and all-around moron contradicted CDC guidelines on his April 23rd episode, saying, “If you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I go no.” Rogan has long advocated for a kind of “thinking for yourself” that is unrecognizable as thinking: giving a platform to far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, spreading misinformation about the novel coronavirus, and repeatedly att...
Van Morrison Blames Negative Reaction to Anti-Lockdown Songs on Lack of Freedom of Speech
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-26T17:15:23+00:00“>April 26, 2021 | 1:15pm ET Van Morrison has been an outspoken critic of the UK COVID-19 lockdowns, going as far as releasing an anti-lockdown song series. In an interview with The Sunday Times, the Irish musician claimed the negative reaction to his song series is the product of freedom of speech no longer being “in the framework.” Seeming to confuse freedom of speech with freedom from criticism, Van Morrison remarked, “A few people got a petition together to end the lockdown, but nobody pays attention to petitions, do they? If I can write about it, I do. Poetic licence, freedom of speech . . . these used to be OK. Why not now? I don’t understand it. Some peopl...
Ted Nugent Has COVID, Even If He Still Doesn’t Understand It
It seems like just yesterday that Ted Nugent went on Facebook Live to spread misinformation about COVID-19, doubt its severity, and ask the tough question of “Why were there no shutdowns for COVID-1 through -18?” But in reality, that was almost two weeks ago. In a beautifully predictable twist of fate that even professional wrestling writers would consider too obvious, the guitar-wielding NRA spokesman took to the very same platform yesterday (April 19) to let his followers know that he recently contracted the virus — and it sounds like it got him pretty damn bad. After beginning his latest monologue by explaining that “everybody told [him that he] should not announce” his COVID positivity, the Nuge said he “had flu symptoms for the last 10 days” and “thought [he] was dying — jus...
Osun governor urges Muslims to embrace coronavirus vaccine
Gov. Ishaq Oyetola of Osun on Saturday urged Muslims to support government”s effort and embrace COVID-19 vaccination to curtail the spread of the life threatening virus. Oyetola gave the advice at the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society, Abuja Branch 26th Annual Ramadan Lecture and special prayer for the nation, held at the society’s Central Mosque at Maitama District, in Abuja. Newsmen report that the lecture has its theme: “Islamic Perspective on COVID-19 and Vaccination.” Represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Abdullah Binuyo, the governor enjoined Muslims to unite and fight COVID-19 that was threatening the life that Almighty Allah has given them to uphold and cherish. He noted that vaccination sustained life while coronavirus threatened it, saying that “as Muslims, we must rally round government...
Saudi Arabia announces Ramadan starts Tuesday
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines, announced that the holy fasting month of Ramadan will start on Tuesday, as Muslims worldwide face coronavirus curbs. “Tomorrow, Tuesday… is the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan this year,” the kingdom’s supreme court said in a royal court statement. Other Muslim countries, including Sunni-majority Egypt and Lebanon, have also announced that Tuesday marks the start of Ramadan, while Shiite-majority countries like Iran are expected to start a day later. The daytime fasting month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. Observant Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk, and traditionally gather with family and friends to break their fast in the evening. It is also a time of prayers, during which Muslims typicall...
Israeli study: South African coronavirus variant may evade protection from Pfizer vaccine
The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa may evade the protection provided by Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is very low and the research has not been peer reviewed. The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for COVID-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics. The South African variant, B.1.351, was found to make up about 1% of all the COVID-19 cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit. But among patient...
