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Cuomo allows movie theatres to open, but some local venues can't or won't
Oct 21, 2020 1:11 pm
The Times Union reports that on Oct. 17, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced movie theatres outside of New York City could reopen beginning this week. But locally some theatres will not or can not begin showing films again. In Chatham, the Crandell Theatre is not reopening now or anytime soon, said Annie Brody, the executive director of the not-for-profit theatre. They are worried about safety and the cost of making improvements to the air filtration system to open during the pandemic. "It's heart-rending," Brody said. "Some (on the board) think the community really wants us to be ... open, but the larger feeling is that it doesn't make financial sense to try to do business the way we'd have to, given all the uncertainties." In Greene County, theatres cannot reopen even if they want to because of the current outbreak of coronavirus there. The Community Theatre in Catskill posted online Oct. 20 that "while some movie theaters in New York are now permitted to reopen, the state has issued guidelines that prevent theaters in specific counties (currently including Greene County) from reopening at this time. When we are permitted to reopen we will evaluate the potential health risk to our customers and staff." Likewise, indoor theaters in Hunter and Windham remain closed, while the Hi-Way Drive-In in Coxsackie continues showing films outdoors. Time and Space Limited in Hudson, on the other hand, is reopening its indoor theatres, with 25 people at a time allowed in theater one, and nine allowed in theater two.