Covid-19 Precautions for Performers under Omicron
Preamble
Our previous Covid-19 precautions were written during the Delta outbreak on the assumption that infection levels in the Auckland community would remain relatively low. With the omicron variety now in the New Zealand community and considering how it has grown in other countries we’ve decided it’s time to update our precautions. We’ve further updated them for the new settings coming into effect on 4 April 2022, basically QR tracking codes & vaccine passes have gone away.
Scope and Application
These precautions apply to all stand-up comedy gigs produced by Tessa & Julia Clement under the Performer Power, One Mic Stand-up, Park Comedy, Gong, etc names.
They are all recommendations or strong recommendations for performers. We believe following them will increase your safety but you are all adults and won’t try to enforce them.
Tessa & Julia are both fully vaccinated and boosted.
Microphones
Assets
We will provide 14 microphones for performer use: 4 wireless handheld and 10 wired. In addition to these 14, performers are welcome to bring their own microphones, see below for details. Tessa & Julia will also be using different microphone(s) to the performers.
We will have 3 or 4 microphone stands and a few long leads to connect the wired microphones to the sound system. Obviously these are shared resources.
As always we will have hand sanitizer & sanitising wipes available, but now in the production area rather than behind the performing area.
Set up
In the production area we will have mic stands, cables, a yellow bucket of sanitised microphones and a grey bucket for used microphones.
While the performer before you is on “stage” please make your way to the production area, select and sanitise a microphone stand (if you want to use one) and select and resanitize a microphone. If you are using a wired microphone, please also sanitise & fit a microphone lead. Please dispose of used sanitising wipes in the rubbish bin provided.
The wireless microphones will be turned off before being placed in the yellow bucket, there is a button in the base of the microphones that powers them up and also acts as a mute. Hold it in for a couple of seconds to turn on or off. Briefly pushing the button will turn the mute on or off. When the mic is on, a green light below the LCD screen comes on, when muted an orange light will be in there as well.
Wired microphones have a mute switch on the side which should be in the off position when you find it but they are very easy to accidentally move to another position so don’t rely on them being in the correct position when you select them. Each microphone lead will have a number on it indicating which port on the mixer it is attached to. Please make sure that Julia knows which lead you have.
Please don’t turn wireless microphones on within a couple of metres of the tech desk with the microphone receivers on it. They use FM signals on different channels (frequencies) but when the received signal is too strong it is possible to get interference between channels causing the current performer’s mic to cut out.
Using your own microphone
Anyone who wishes to is welcome to use their own microphone. If you want to use anything other than a standard dynamic microphone with an XLR socket in the base, please liaise with us well ahead of the gig so we can get the tech sorted.
Our mixer accepts XLR & ¼” plugs providing either line or microphone level signals. Our microphone cables all terminate at the microphone end in an XLR female plug, suitable for connecting to standard microphones At the mixer end our microphone leads terminate in either an XLR or ¼” plug, if this matters, please liaise with us to ensure you get what you need.
We have a limited ability to connect with Bluetooth from a phone, but can’t be fed from a stand-alone Bluetooth headset.
Tear down
When you have finished your set, please turn your mic off, if relevant unplug the mic lead, place the mic in the grey bucket and the mic stand with its friends. We haven’t yet worked out where mic leads will go, but wherever you found it is probably a good move.
Sanitising the equipment you have used would be nice, but it is everyone’s responsibility to protect themselves by sanitising the assets they will be using before they use them.
If we run out of wireless microphones One of the production team will sanitise the used ones & return them to the yellow bucket. We’ll post a warning on the facebook group for the show if we do this.
Rationale
The MC will be the most frequent user of a microphone and, if infectious, the most likely to infect others so we have previously restricted one mic for the exclusive use of the MC, and household contacts of the MC. We continue to do this. This protocol tries to improve the protection by minimising the sharing of microphones between other performers.
The big push here is to minimise the sharing of microphones as we see the microphones as the biggest single infection risk with the mic stands and leads as a lesser but non-zero risk. Julia has noticed in supermarkets that while some people still sanitise their hands, nobody but her seems to sanitise the handles of their shopping carts. Read into that what you will. We see shopping cart handles being an analogue of mic stands and cables and regard them as a potential source of infection so encourage their being sanitised before use.
We are still recommending the use of social distancing & masking when not on stage. Interestingly enough at a recent Gong, Julia was masked during her introduction to the show and the sound wasn’t too muffled. We’re not recommending doing that but, if you want to, it might work for you.
Off Stage
For indoor gigs, government rules are that masks are required when not performing or sitting at your table. We strongly recommend that you wear masks also at our outdoor gigs when off stage. We also strongly recommend maintaining social distance from people other than family members, close friends, romantic partners, etc who are accompanying you.
Estimates vary but it seems while the chance of catching Covid-19 outside is less than x% (5%, 10% ????) of the chance of catching it indoors, it is not zero. Masks and social distancing should provide a lot more protection.
Audience
The Park Comedy gigs are in public parks and we lack any authority or ability to limit or control the audience.
Last updated 30 March 2022 @ 11:38.