many years ago when Kurt Masur was conduction the NY Philharmonic. Was in the Mid-90s and a bad flu was sweeping the city. Everyone in the auditorium was hacking their head off and in the middle of the movement, Masur stops and tells the audience that there's machines upstairs with cough drops.
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/conductor-throws-cough-drops-hacking-audience/
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/conductor-throws-cough-drops-hacking-audience/