Monday, November 16, 2020
Covid-Broadway: No shows, no health care — shutdown crushes actors
www.cnbc.com: This spring, Kinnunen found herself out of work as an actor after the Covid-19 pandemic forced a shutdown of professional theaters. The 29-year-old ultimately boxed up her New York apartment and drove across the country to move back into her parents’ home in Washington.
Now, she faces a new threat: losing her health insurance.
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2 comments:
When the pandemic began, people thought that life would get back to the way it was in a week, month or three months. But here we are, after eight months, and the latest is that that the number of cases are touching all time highs.
Unfortunately, the one industry that will be hit the hardest in this second wave, once again, would be the theater industry. Theater thrives on social interaction and having audiences. But none of that is possible today. Zoom theater cannot generate enough revenue for a theater to survive, even though they are trying their best.
With such struggle, the people employed in this industry are in a worse situation. They have had to lose their jobs, with no monetary compensation offered by the industry, in addition to no health care. They have been struggling so much, but yet not a lot of help is being given to them, which is just unfair to them.
Though I agree with Reesha that the theatre industry is being hit hard, I disagree with Reesha that this is purely a theatre industry issue. There are so many industries that have problems with health insurance. The airline industry is another industry that has people losing their health insurance, small businesses that are too small to be the business size requirement for forcing to get employees health insurance, and people who have to take care of their kids who are home because of online school so they are no longer bringing home income. I agree the theatre industry is being hit hard but this is such a larger issue than just the theatre industry. Sorry, this is my soapbox, I think it is important to put things in perspective. It is fantastic that the star profiled in this article lost their job and went home and didn't have to pay rent but there are so many people who don't have anywhere to go. They aren't just worried about health insurance but they are worried about family members, housing, and healthcare. I think it is horrible what is happening to Caitlin and the theatre industry, don't get me wrong. I am just trying to put things in perspective. I think this article highlights the issue of health insurance in the country and how important universal health is. I think what is hard for me to fathom is how many people this is happening to across this nation. I hope our new administration figures out something better than what is happening right now.
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