Posted in: Movies | Tagged: amc a-list, amc theaters, coronavirus, covid-19, mayor bill deblasio, New York City, regal cinemas, regal unlimited, social distancing

New York City Mayor Orders Movie Theaters to Close Amidst Coronavirus Scare

On Sunday night, the mayor of New York City Bill DeBlasio ordered all movie theaters to close starting from Tuesday. The move was made to curb the spread of the coronavirus in large gatherings of people.

Nightclubs, small theaters and concert venues are also closed from Tuesday.  Restaurants, bars and cafes in the five boroughs will be restricted to take-out and food delivery as well. These rules come into effect on the morning of Tuesday March 17^th.

"This is not a decision I make lightly," DeBlasio said in a statement on Sunday night. "These places are part of the heart and soul of our city. They are part of what it means to be a New Yorker. But our city is facing an unprecedented threat, and we must respond with a wartime mentality. We will come through this, but until we do, we must make whatever sacrifices necessary to help our fellow New Yorkers."

Seriously, Just Stay Home!

New York State currently has the highest cases of COVID-19 infection in the nation. As of Friday night, idiots in their twenties were still crowding into bars all over the city. Many people under 30 think they're either immune or they would recover since they were not in the high-risk group. They don't seem to realise that they could then pass it on to elderly people in their families or all over the city. Or that they might still die from it despite being young.

On Sunday evening, the Center for Disease Control strongly recommended that gatherings of 50 or more people should be called off for the next eight weeks.

If you live in New York City and have an AMC A-list subscription, you might want to cancel it to avoid paying the $23.95 monthly fee when all their theaters are closed. You wouldn't be able to re-up for six months, but with all the major releases getting pushed back, six months might be how long it takes before we see any major new releases anyway.

If you subscribe to the Regal Unlimited program, you probably had to pay for the full year in advance. Try phoning up customer service to see if you can be reimbursed for the duration of the theaters' closure.

Get ready to hunker down and stay home. There's plenty to stream for your movie needs and we'll be running our recommendations.

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