Outbreak Alabama: ‘You can’t be anti-vax and pro-business’

August 4, 2021 antivax, covid19

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This is a podcast/audio story. Listen to “Outbreak Alabama: Stories from a Pandemic,” above.

I was scrolling Facebook last weekend when I saw a post that inspired some of that good ol’ Facebook engagement in the comments, most of it civil. It was from Chloe Cook, the executive director at Sidewalk Film in Birmingham.

She wrote, “You can’t be anti-vax, anti-mask, and anti-social distancing and be pro-business, pro-schools, pro-athletics, or pro-arts.”

As a leader of one of the state’s most prominent arts organizations, Chloe has a horse in this race. They run an annual film festival inside several venues in Birmingham that had to convert to a drive-in format in 2020. They just raised more than $4 million to build and open a brand new independent movie theater in downtown Birmingham and had to close its doors almost as soon as they swung open.

Now they’re planning their next festival, set to kick off Aug. 23, and according to Gov. Kay Ivey, Alabama is open for business. But because of legislation Ivey signed, Sidewalk cannot require proof of vaccination from its patrons at each indoor venue where they screen a movie.

So I asked Chloe Cook why you can’t be anti-vax and pro-arts in Alabama, how her organization was most impacted by COVID, why they’d like the require proof of vaccinations but can’t and what her message is to people who want normal life but aren’t willing to do what’s necessary to make it a reality.

On the COVID double standard:

“I’m reading, listening and following along with conversations online. There’s such an interesting divide out there. The people that are comfortable following the guidelines of the CDC and recommendations of the medical community, and the people that are not comfortable with that at all. I started noticing a lot of the people that don’t want businesses to close down and are talking about our freedoms are also not willing to get the vaccine or willing to wear a mask or follow social distancing guidelines. It’s just on my heart to point out that I don’t think those two things can exist simultaneously in a person. You can’t claim to be pro-business or pro-schools or pro-’normalcy,’ whatever that means, if you’re not willing to follow any of the advice that’s being provided to us by the medical community. And it’s putting a lot of businesses, small and large and a lot of nonprofits in jeopardy, and I think it’s going to end up putting a lot of our young people in jeopardy when school starts back.”

On wanting to require proof of vaccination for Sidewalk:

“It’s my understanding that there is a state law that prevents people from requiring a ‘vaccine passport’ or proof of vaccination. So in order to stay within the bounds of the law, we can’t ask people for that proof in order to enter our space. I am of the thinking that we would ask for that if we were in a position to do so because I think it provides that additional layer of protection and comfort for the people in the room, to know that they’re in the room with other people who have already been vaccinated and much less likely to be passing the virus from person to person. But that’s not a thing we can do. It is something we’re seeing peer festivals and cinemas do in other parts of the country, just depending on their state or local regulations. And we’ve definitely had some customers reach out and tell us that they wish that was something we could do. It’s a pretty wild place to be. I never imagined paying this much attention to anything about infectious disease in my particular career. It’s been a wild ride. I think my peers are all feeling that same pressure to create something fun for people to get out and enjoy their life and return to the beautiful moments that the arts allow for and to figure out how to do that and do it in a safe way that doesn’t alienate half your audience is a really tough thing to do.”

Her message to people who want their ‘normal lives’ back:

“If you want your kids to be in school this fall, then follow along when you’re asked to put them in a mask. If you want your high schooler to have the full high school experience, get them vaccinated. If you want to go to concerts, restaurants, movies or whatever it is you want to do, just follow the guidelines that have been provided, and then you get your ‘normal life’ back. But without that, we’re going to continue to see sickness, death, businesses close. We can’t stay open selling 12 tickets at a time. That is not a sustainable business model. But we also can’t say ‘Who cares? Everybody come in and have a good time. Don’t wear a mask or get vaccinated, and bring this COVID into our facility.’ That’s not an option either. We’re trying to walk that fine line of being in Alabama where we don’t have the same kind of respect for the medical community as perhaps other states do.”

If you or anyone you know is affected by COVID and want to share your story, please email bflanagan@al.com. For all of our coverage on the outbreak and how it continues to impact Alabama, visit AL.com/coronavirus.

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