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Broadway aiming to reopen by the fall

March 25 (UPI) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio detailed plans to reopen Broadway by this fall during a press conference on Thursday.

Broadway performances were initially suspended in March and then canceled for the remainder of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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"There is a great saying in the theater-- 'The show must go on.' And the show will go on -- on Broadway and off-Broadway when we get to the fall," De Blasio said.

De Blasio listed the steps that need to be taken for Broadway to be back by September. The city will be opening a COVID-19 vaccination site on Broadway for theater workers and a mobile vaccination unit for off-Broadway workers in the next four weeks.

Pop-up COVID-19 testing sites by theaters and the development of plans to manage crowds before and after shows are also coming in the next four weeks.

De Blasio noted that Broadway employs 100,000 and has an economic impact of $15 billion a year.

"Our theater community needs it. These are the folks who have given their heart and soul to creativity, to making New York City great, to making Broadway the envy of the world. They deserve it, they deserve the opportunity to come back and do what they love. But our city needs it too. It's part of our identity, it's part of who we are. It's part of what people love about New York City," the mayor said.

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