LA County Health Officials Ask Hollywood to ‘Strongly Consider Pausing’ Production Amid Covid-19 Spikes
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The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has asked the entertainment industry to “strongly consider pausing” production for the next couple of weeks due to the surge in coronavirus cases in the state.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) issued an emergency authority order earlier this month, asking residents to “cancel everything” amid the recent spike, yet Hollywood has continued to film.
Hollywood studios are exempt from the order, as the state has deemed the entertainment industry a “critical infrastructure,” allowing them to continue filming.
The pandemic has been hard on film productions, as box office revenue hit a 40 year low this month, perhaps explaining the industry’s desperate desire to continue working.
Although still permitted to resume production, health officials sent entertainment contacts an email on December 24 requesting that they temporarily stop operations.
“Although music, TV and film productions are allowed to operate, we ask you to strongly consider pausing work for a few weeks during this catastrophic surge in COVID cases,” LADPH representatives wrote in an email obtained by FilmLA. “Identify and delay higher risk activities, and focus on lower-risk work for now, if at all possible.”
The email noted that traveling is “currently not advised,” adding that it may make it “more likely that people will end up together in vehicles or indoors in less-controlled settings.”
The health advisory also comes after TikTok star Addison Rae’s gender-swapped She’s All That remake shut down a large coronavirus testing site while filming on Dec. 1 — forcing 504 people with appointments to find another location.
A total of 733,325 people in L.A. County have contracted the coronavirus this year, while California became the first state to surpass 2 million cases last week. Hospitals in the state have been so overrun that doctors have reported treating patients in the cafeteria or gift shop.
