Movie theaters are reopening. We asked an expert if it’s safe to go

[Music] more than 70 million people in the united states go to the movies each week to get away from their cares and to find entertainment some americans are finally able to go back to the movies with many new caveats struggling theater chains have scrambled to implement new rules and new technology to get moviegoers safely back in their seats say k next friday would you like to see wagon train at the movies but experts have long known covet 19 spreads more easily indoors and can often be the source of outbreaks so is it safe to go back to movie theaters again here’s what we know it wouldn’t be something i would go out and recommend what i can say is this it all depends on how it’s done social distancing is vital movie theaters have to abide by state and local guidelines which often require masks amc for one is limiting all theater’s capacity to 40 or less and in many cases blocking every other row but even with these measures in place experts say to avoid movie theaters if your community has a high number of cases how much spread is in the community is essential if you are in georgia at case rates of thirty four hundred thousand florida some counties case rates of fifty per hundred thousand i’m sorry i enjoy the movies you got no business going to the movies in those places so first you really need to make sure that you’re not swimming in a sea of ​​covet before you start going to movies some health experts do argue that the nature of movie going could potentially limit the spread of the virus compared to say eating out at a restaurant in a theater everyone is facing the same direction rather than each other and they aren’t talking that could limit the spread of airborne particles from one person to another especially if everyone is wearing a mask but what about snacks we can’t eat popcorn and be massive they’re just simply mutually exclusive if you are touching something and then putting popcorn in your mouth that just is a bad idea that could spell trouble for movie theater chains given the high profit margin they stand to make on concessions as for air quality experts say air filtration is becoming increasingly important as growing evidence points to the significant role airborne particles play in spreading the virus theaters like amc have said they’re upgrading their system’s air filters we actually know that there’s not a lot of transmission that happens on an airplane so if you kind of think of a movie theater like an airplane are they exchanging the air very very frequently which happens on an airplane i know they’ve done a lot to try and improve the filters how is the ventilation how often is that air being exchanged in that room because if it’s not being exchanged very very often the way they are in plane then that’s probably a problem behind the scenes movie chains say they’ll be increasing their cleaning procedures sometimes cleaning theaters between each showing here’s what you can expect when you arrive but according to amc’s ceo the cost of these additional safety measures will likely be passed on to moviegoers in the form of higher ticket or concession prices that’sa problem when movie studios are beginning to skip the theaters and release certain movies directly to consumers streaming from the safety of their own home for theaters the pandemic’s prolonged shutdowns means some chains could be facing bankruptcy so the stakes couldn’t be higher we’ll get there it wouldn’t be my first choice of things to do i’m just sad to say i can’t endorse him right now