Choir members/singers, how are you returning to normalcy-- or are you?

I’m going to kick this thread off with this story about the choir that was at the epicenter of the COVID launch:

When COVID first appeared on the national scene:


The choir encouraged people who were worried about getting sick to stay home. But for those who did attend the rehearsal, the leaders loaded up on hand sanitizer and had members spread out as far as possible in their practice hall at Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church.

Sixty-one people came to rehearsal. Within a few weeks, 52 were diagnosed with COVID-19. Several people were hospitalized, and two of the choir members died.

“This particular incident was one of the first strong pieces of evidence that there could be airborne transmission [of COVID-19],” says Dr. Lea Hamner, the head infectious disease at Skagit County Public Health.

If COVID-19 wasn’t spreading through the air, she says, “it just seems mathematically impossible — after you stare at it for a long time and wrestle with it — that you would have 52 people get sick all at once.”

The superspreader event marked a turning point in scientists’ understanding of the disease.

My bold.

And now, as the choir, which has been zooming, considers in-person rehearsals, the members are divided over vaccinations. Even after two members died. :woman_facepalming:t4:


I sang with my Episcopal church choir yesterday for the first time. Small group. Everyone wearing singers masks. Not distanced, but not touching either.

I’m anticipating that the college choir will resume in the fall. Will we keep wearing masks? I don’t know, but the prospect of sitting in a roomful of people who spend an hour pretty much spitting on each other (however melodiously) does not appeal.

  • What about your choir or singing group? What have you been doing this past year and what are you doing now?

Thanks for linking to that article, ThelmaLou. I can’t add any choir anecdotes, as I don’t sing.

But I have a great interest in Mount Vernon, as that’s where we’ve vacationed a couple of times in the past and where we believe we will live after we retire. We’ve rented a vacation home in the town twice and I still exchange texts with the home owner. Right after that event back in March of 2020, I texted to see if she was a member of that choir, as I know she’s a devout churchgoer. She replied that she wasn’t, but knew a couple of people who did attend that church and who had come down with the virus. It’s a small town!

Little did the poor folks in that choir realize that they’d be an unwitting test to show that the virus spreads mainly via aerosol and droplets.

I’m a church choir member.

We haven’t started practicing yet, and there’s no telling when we will. It’s been all solos or piano/organ music for special music since the start of the pandemic. (Actually, the first few weeks, the services were all-virtual, with only a small number of worship leaders allowed in the building).

My chorus has had several virtual benefit concerts, that have been quite successful, both artistically and financially. We’ve recently had a couple of real-life socially-distancing rehearsals for those who’ve been vaccinated. I haven’t attended, since at my age I can’t take any chances.

Singing in the chorus is the one thing I miss more than anything else.

My church sent out a mass email last week asking us if we were willing to return to the choir (I’m the pianist.) I refused.