Film and TV productions shot in Los Angeles will now require crew members to wear mask indoors.
The announcement was made on Thursday by Barbara Ferrer, the public health officer of Los Angeles County. During a media briefing, Ferrer said the change was made due to increasing hospitalizations in L.A. county due to COVID-19.
“With new hospital admissions reaching more than 8 per week per 100,000 population, they will resume indoor masking requirements, along with several other safety measures,” Ferrer said.
According to film and TV industry’s current return to work agreement, if a metropolitan area or county reaches 8 or more new weekly COVID hospitalization admissions per 100,000 people over a seven-day interval, a threshold referred to as the “Escalation Trigger,” productions will require crew members to begin masking indoors. This current return to work protocol agreement was first approved last May, and are set to expire July 15.
According to public health data, the seven-day average number of hospitalizations per 100,000 people has risen to 8.1.
In her media briefing, Ferrer thanked the industry for working with labor partners to institute safe practices for workers on set, and for being stringent in their requirements for sets.
“This industry has worked closely with their labor partners to institute Covid safety measures that create safety for all workers while being able to continue the important work,” Ferrer said. “We do applaud them along with many other businesses that are taking advantage of the many tools that are available to keep workers safe.”
These new COVID protocols go into effect effective immediately.