Traveling for work during this nonsense is...something. The last week of September I was out in central Wyoming and back in New York City the next. Do understand that I'm stoked to be back on the road, but there's new adjustments in doing the thing.
It's weird to admit feeling spoiled by New York City Lyft drivers compared to using the app in another part of the country. In leaving for my flight to Wyoming, the Lyft driver wasn't wearing a mask until I asked about it from behind my own. She fumbled around a bit before putting on her mask and then started blasting old school country music I'm assuming to remind me of where I'm from.
The process at the airport was pretty much normal short of most people wearing masks and just about all the food options and most stores being closed. The OKC airport traffic was way down, but my layovers in both Denver and Houston felt like business as usual. The only time I whipped out my eye protection while flying for my Wyoming trip was in the Denver airport. It's not like I was having to avoid people trying to lick my eyeballs, but the place was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder packed in some areas. Just wearing another layer of protection at that point seemed more responsible than dealing with an unnecessary panic attack.
With most of the food options at airports closed, I figured my salvation would be behind the walls of the United Club. Nope... After piecing together a dinner of chips, a cheese stick, and a vodka tonic I re-joined the masses at the airport Chick-fil-As and Shake Shacks. Nothing says "luxuries of travel" like sitting on the floor, facing the wall, and eating fast food out of a paper bag. Oh, and don't forget to brush your teeth any chance you get; those KN95 masks aren't forgiving.
An unexpected benefit at the moment is United Airlines lowering the requirements with their MileagePlus policies. Currently I'm Silver and somehow most of my flights had me upgraded from economy to First Class. Being at the front of the plane during Covid isn't the same as what it was like in the Before Time (masks, additional fear of death, etc.), but I'm absolutely not complaining about the perks especially considering how full my flights have been. Still, I'm absolutley using that airline provided alcohol wipe to disinfect my seat and tray table.
Now granted, the flight attendants and pilots were only wearing the basic blue medical style masks and no eye protection. I felt ridiculous wearing goggles, especially with them fogging up the entire time, but more than anything I was wearing them to help me calm down when I needed to. Nearly everyone had a mask on at the different airports and most were wearing them properly. It was odd seeing people in those full on splash guard style face shields like they were about to deliver a baby, but I'd rather be doing the thing next to those people vs. the True American Heroes not wearing a mask at all.
In terms of actually being on set, things weren't dramatically different. I've seen a multiple things about the Covid safety preference of using a shotgun mic to record audio, but both my shoots used lav mics. By all means I'd stress the importance of having multiple monitors on set so everyone else isn't up in your business trying to see the image. We didn't have one for the Wyoming job and we should've. For my NYC shoot, we were able to have one for the client and an additional one off set.
Out in Wyoming we shot almost entirely outdoors. There was plenty of space to spread out so social distancing wasn't a problem. At one point I stepped in to help the talent fix the placement on her mic. I'd kept my mask on and she said, "Oh don't worry, I'm not infected. I'm a nursing student and get tested all the time." I kindly replied, "But you don't know that I'm not. I'm not from here and I've been around a lot of people I don't know." Her eyes widened a bit and you could tell she understand my caution.
New York felt completely different. Each of the Lyfts I took while in the city had drivers in masks and a plastic divider between us to stop the spittle. I'd not ridden the subway since mid-March, so it felt like home stepping down into the sights and smells of that underground world even though I – along with everyone else – was wearing a mask. For my shoot, we had to fill out a Covid questionnaire beforehand, wore masks, had plenty of hand sanitizer, and weren't allowed to have food or drinks (other than water) on set.
Several friends of mine living in NYC have talked about how the city somewhat feels back to normal – short of wearing masks and using hand sanitizer all the time. One mentioned how it seemed like most people there were on the same page about masks and fighting back against Covid. It sucks that the rest of the country isn't.