the British press has dubbed “the pingdemic” — harsh, mandatory isolation rules in which any close contact of an infected person must stay home for 10 days regardless of their vaccination status or negative test result.
It’s estimated that soon some 10 million Britons could be couch-bound. The business-crippling strictures, which are due to end Aug.
16, have wreaked havoc on the already struggling theater business. In the past two weeks, big-budget musicals such as “The Prince of Egypt” and “Hairspray” have been forced to cancel weeks of performances — even though most capacity and mask-wearing rules ended on Monday. “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” which is now back on stage at the Palladium, had to delay its start by 12.