Comic-Con International announced its COVID-19 policies — a mask mandate, plus either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test — back at the beginning of May when the convention was already sold out. The city and organizers of the convention had already sold out by July 1. They were promoting what they had to sayIt was a “very, very positive”It was a reaction. Nevertheless, we’ve all been conditioned by the last three years to expect much, much more objections from people.
And indeed, in the very first panel I attended Thursday morning at the formal start of San Diego Comic-Con 2022 — the excellent Disability Representation, On and Off Screen panel put together by the Inevitable Foundation — it looked to me like we might all have been in for several days of mass refusal to comply.
People were dropping their masks under their noses and lifting them over their mouths all around the room. This is quite common, even within strict mask mandate settings. A SDCC attendee entered the room mid-way through the panel and casually removed his mask. He huffed and puffed quite dramatically and then proceeded to pull out his phone to call someone, while simultaneously speaking in a wheezing fake quietness that caused everyone around him to squirm with irritation.
After a few minutes, this man obstinately refused to hear the whispers of “what the f-” from people sitting right in front of or behind him, I’d had enough; I leaned over and rasped at him to show some respect to the panel, get off the phone and put his damn mask on.
This would have been the beginning of a story about an anti-mask/antivaxx lunatic who throws a tantrum or starts a fight over rules that are supposed to reduce the number of deaths from the plague. Fortunately, this happened at Comic-Con, one of the last relatively non-toxic public *things* left in the United States. Instead of panicking, the guy apologized shamefully, got off his phone and put on his mask again.
This, it turned out, was the lowest level of COVID safety, and compliance, that I witnessed during my entire week. In stark contrast to now-years of stories of grown adults making fools of themselves over such mild asks, Comic-Con was, by and large, a sea of people politely respecting the convention’s mask requirement.
My colleague Umberto Gonzalez pointed out that security enforced strict mask policies in the convention center meeting rooms and Hall H. They reminded attendees to wear masks and cover their mouth and nose. This was in addition to orange wristbands that verified vaccination and/or negative COVID testing, which were required for entry into the building.
Adam Chitwood, my colleague, had similar observations. It was. “shocking,”He said that the convention center seemed to be the most secure place for COVID protection. Even in Hall H — with its capacity of about 6,500 — the vast majority of attendees were wearing their masks in compliance with the rules without having to be reminded by security to put their masks back on.
Drew Taylor, Drew Taylor’s coworker, stated that he was “surprised at how rigorously enforced the mask rule was,”He also said that he felt safer than he thought when he looked back at things.
That’s important because convention turnout was huge. On Saturday, the total population had reached a record 57,007. likely matched or exceeded 2019’s total of 130,000.
The actual convention floor was a bit more relaxed in terms of enforcement, as attendees were often clustered together at all times. I was often struck by the number of people who were egregiously walking about without masks. From my perspective, this was a rare occurrence. Most people were wearing masks.
Not that attendees aren’t looking forward to the day when mask mandates aren’t necessary. One cosplayer I spoke to said she had no objections to the policy, but noted that it made things difficult for cosplayers whose get-ups depended on elaborate facial makeup, time and effort that can be ruined by masks, assuming that element of the costume doesn’t have to be discarded.
However, most fans created mask lemonade with COVID limes. They often came up with creative ways to integrate their masks into their costumes.
One very common trend was the use of firm, transparent masks — like the gentleman from Canada below — that complied with the mask mandate (and offered at least some — not a lot, but some — protection against the spread of COVID-19) while also allowing for full expressiveness.
Others chose to color coordinate with their costumes, as in this Scott Summers outfit.
It’s still too early to tell if San Diego Comic-Con 2022 managed to avoid becoming a superspreader event, but given that similar policies kept New York’s Anime Expo safeThese odds are very good. From where I am, the SDCC turned out to be a good way to make history, thanks to the large open spaces, the decent air filtration and vaccinations.
Drew Taylor, Umberto Gonzales, and Adam Chitwood all contributed to this report.