Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have soared in the United States. In the absence of federal government coordination, states began to take measures to save themselves.
According to a CBS local time report on the 29th, Los Angeles County has begun to tighten epidemic prevention measures and require the Hollywood film and television industry, which is still in operation, to suspend production “voluntarily”.
FilmLA, a non-profit organization working for the official film offices of Los Angeles, confirmed on the 28th that local public health officials have contacted the film industry to suspend production and no longer issue shooting licenses.
According to the report, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health sent an email to several people in the film industry on Christmas Eve (24th).
“[Hopefully your industry] is strongly considering suspending work for weeks and postponing high-risk activities during the disastrous surge in COVID-19 cases, and focus on low-risk jobs now if possible,” the email reads.
Previously, despite the “no going out” regulations in the area, film and television production was still regarded as “essential business”, so the work was not restricted by epidemic prevention regulations on the basis of ensuring that practitioners maintain social distancing, masks and frequent testing.
During this period, FilmLA was also allowed to continue issuing film, television, commercial and music video licenses: from June to November, the organization received more than 3,500 applications for film and television production licenses.
At present, new cases in Los Angeles are setting a record, and the number of hospital admissions is also soaring. According to the statistics of the Los Angeles County Government, on the 29th, there were 12,979 new confirmed cases compared with the previous day, with a total of 746,089 cases; 227 new deaths and a total of 9,782 deaths.
It is worth mentioning that the Hollywood film and television industry has been seriously damaged since the outbreak of the epidemic around the world at the beginning of this year.
First of all, many Hollywood movies abandoned their theatrical release and chose to go online on-demand, including the Disney film Mulan.
In addition, American film and television production did not resume work until June, and took strict epidemic prevention measures, such as regular testing, wearing masks, and not leaving the shooting base at will. Nevertheless, news continued to spread that the staff were infected during filming, and several production crews were forced to stop work.
