Oklahoma Live Music Venues Will Require Vax Cards

While mandatory vax status and vaccination passports were more of a concern in 2020, the conversation has taken a step past just talking points to become policy as Oklahoma records new record coronavirus numbers during Pandemic: Part Two. After the month or so that the general public assumed this pandemic was over, the plot thickens.

Here we are again, the talking heads of infotainment news are making record profits off of this contentious event, it's further divided people politically, and now we've dragged our kids into the argument over masks and schools as if it weren't up to parents to decide anyway. Pandemic: Part Two is already worse than the original, and it's now inundating the places where people go to get away from everything... music venues.

Last week, Live Nation and its affiliates announced they'll start requiring proof of vaccination to attend one of their promoted shows starting in October. Other multimedia companies have done the same thing, it's only natural that the small independently owned venues follow suit, but on a much quicker timeline.

So far, smaller outlets like Tower Theater and Ponyboy's OKC have been the first to announce the new measures... requiring either a vaccination card for proof or submitting a negative covid test within a few days of a performance alongside mandatory masks for patrons. More venues are bound to follow even though it hasn't been a popular decision so far. While it seems like the safest and easiest way to continue making money while fighting the spread, some would still opt for that personal responsibility on the individual level.

While that's understandable, personal responsibility and such, maybe this is a move to avoid the inevitable additional shutdown of non-essential businesses. Community leaders have done in once in OKC and these small independent theaters almost didn't make it out still in business. With new drastic measures sure to hit communities after the coming local elections, maybe this is just the way those places will get ahead of that curve in hopes of staying open for business later on.

While it may seem that it's never-ending, the pandemic will eventually go away. The Spanish Flu Pandemic lasted a little over two years and that's really the closest comparison experts draw to in terms of the affected. While I'm not ready to write off christmas 2021 just yet, I'm also hoping 2022 doesn't follow this same trajectory.