diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingApplication.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingApplication.cs
index 5f95916e..1e88d807 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingApplication.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingApplication.cs
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ public Context CreateContext(IFeatureCollection contextFeatures)
             return new Context
             {
                 HttpContext = httpContext,
-                Scope = scope,
+                Scope = scope,   // Scope can be null if logging is not on.   
                 StartTimestamp = startTimestamp,
             };
         }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingLoggerExtensions.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingLoggerExtensions.cs
index 35072a39..2ee490df 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingLoggerExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting/Internal/HostingLoggerExtensions.cs
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ internal static class HostingLoggerExtensions
 
         public static IDisposable RequestScope(this ILogger logger, HttpContext httpContext)
         {
-            return logger.BeginScope(new HostingLogScope(httpContext));
+            // to avoid allocation, return a null scope if the logger is not on at least to some degree.   
+            if (logger.IsEnabled(LogLevel.Critical))
+                return logger.BeginScope(new HostingLogScope(httpContext));
+            else
+                return null;
         }
 
         public static void RequestStarting(this ILogger logger, HttpContext httpContext)