Coronavirus: AMC Movie Theatres Practicing 'Social Distancing'

ATLANTA, GA — As a precaution against spreading the new Coronavirus, or COVID-19, AMC Theatres says the company will continue to operate its 1,000 locations, but with only half the seating capacity.

AMC said in a statement that it’s supporting the CDC’s guidelines on social distancing:

“As the industry leader, AMC is taking aggressive, nationwide steps to provide additional space between guests within all its U.S. theatres, to keep its theatres clean and to discourage those with health concerns from coming to its theatres.”

The change went into effect Saturday and will continue until April 30. The seat capacity will be cut in half at all theatres, including Atlanta. Ticket sales for each showtime will be capped to an amount equal to 50 percent or the normal seating capacity. In theatres with more than 500 seats, AMC will further cap ticket sales to a maximum of 250.

Other changes include enhanced theatre cleaning. AMC has also mandated that any employee who feels ill is excused from work and should not come to the theatre. Guests are urged to stay at home and seek medical assistance if they are not feeling well.

“The health and safety of our guests and theatre teams are of the utmost importance to AMC,” said Adam Aron, CEO and President, AMC Theatre.

Globally, more than 169,000 people have been infected and more than 6,500 people have died from the COVID-19, Johns Hopkins reported Sunday night. Of that total, more than 80,000 confirmed cases are in China, while the entire United States has 3,774 confirmed cases as of Sunday. Forty-two deaths in the U.S. have been tied to the virus outbreak.

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