Inside Hollywood’s Terrifying COVID-Outbreak Scourge
In late December, Young Sheldon, the Warner Bros. Television sitcom about a 9-year-old science genius, reported 11 positive cases of COVID-19 on set. Another WB production, Lucifer, in which a devil ditches hell for Los Angeles, reported 13. Eleven more cases came from The Kominsky Method, a Michael Douglas-starring Netflix series where aging actors confront mortality. Around the same time, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 database, which tracks workplace outbreaks from the past 14 days, Netflix had nine more positive cases; NBC Universal, including some crew of the show Mr. Mayor, had 23; CBS reported 45.
Last month, TV and film production continued, even as COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles surged precipitously. By Dec. 28, Los Angeles County was averaging 14,000 new cases and 73 deaths per day; as of Jan. 7, that average had soared to nearly 20,000, with 218 deaths per day. Local officials have called the spike “catastrophic”—limiting ICU capacity to 0 percent state-wide, forcing ambulances to wait hours to offload patients, ration their oxygen supplies, and turn away patients unlikely to survive. “Pardon my language,” said Dr Preet Malani, chief health officer and infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan, “but it’s a complete shitshow over there.”
On Dec. 6, when Southern California entered a stricter regional lockdown, outdoor dining ended and playgrounds were closed, along with hair salons, museums, theaters, and recreational facilities. (After pushback from parents, playgrounds were allowed to reopen in Los Angeles). But the entertainment industry was allowed to remain in operation. According to the California Department of Public Health, entertainment is an “essential business.”
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