One of the biggest industries that have been affected by the rapid spread of COVID-19 over these last few weeks has been the movie theaters and the box office. Most major movie theater chains will be unable to open until July at the earliest, but there is one theater in Oklahoma that plans to open before then.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced on Wednesday that hair salons, barbershops, spas, nail salons, and movie theaters among other businesses will begin opening on Friday, so Circle Cinema in Tulsa is preparing for this by installing plexiglass screens and making all of its employees wear masks and gloves.
While the art-house theater is not planning on opening its doors immediately on Friday, owner Clark Wiens wants to take all the necessary health precautions.
"We made a lot of changes,” he told Variety. “We want to find all we can so you would not have to have physical contact with anything in the theater, besides setting your posterior in the seat."
Wiens also spoke with his staff about the theaters reopening, making sure that they were comfortable with coming back in to work as well. Cases of coronavirus have reportedly been decreasing in Oklahoma according to public health officials, but cases in Tulsa remain high, with 467 people infected and 27 deaths. Other major movie theater chains like AMC, Regal, and Cinemark still remain closed.
Oklahoma is not the only state that is planning on reopening certain nonessential businesses on Friday. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp also announced that businesses would be reopening on Friday, to the dismay of many Georgia residents and rap legends because of the current number of cases in the state, especially in the city of Atlanta.
