Half of the productions on this Burbank studio lot are not testing anyone for COVID.

The studio says that each production can make their own decisions and the studio is implying they don’t care any longer. No one is going to get shut down and there won’t be any fines.

The health department isn’t doing anything because they have been instructed from higher on the state food chain that no television or film productions will ever be shut down again.

Warner Bros.

Hollywood Is Leaving COVID Safety To Ill-Prepared Assistants Who Say They Have No Idea What They’re Doing

When an out-of-work Hollywood production crew member was offered the opportunity to be a COVID-19 safety liaison on a Warner Bros. TV show in the fall, they jumped at the chance to be gainfully employed during the pandemic. But they were unprepared for what awaited, and months into the job, they regret taking it.

“It just feels like there’s no room for anything else in my life but this job, handling the crew, trying to get them through it, and get us through to the finish line,” said the employee, who spoke to BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution at the studio and in the industry.

Lack of resources and adequate training, conflicting messages from executives, and no industry standards have pushed some of the people in charge of keeping Hollywood’s sets safe during a raging pandemic to the breaking point. Others have had to make up the rules as they go just to keep the train from going off the track.

“This pandemic is only a year old, so as we learn more, we have to change what we’re doing,” the Warner Bros. employee said. “The ripple effects are so chaotic, and we’re the ones who take the brunt of it. The executives at Warner Bros. sit in their at-home offices and issue these mandates, but we have to deal with the crew’s fears and complaints.”

A COVID compliance assistant who works on an Amazon Studios show and also asked to remain anonymous said they received no training or additional information.

“I have no formal training. I have no medical training. I don’t know anything more or less about coronavirus than the next person,” the employee said. – Source

California Ends Strict Virus Restrictions as New Cases Fall

OAKLAND, Calif. — Facing swelling political pressure and numerous lawsuits by businesses forced to shut down, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Monday lifted a strict stay-at-home order and handed to local authorities greater control over whether restaurants, hair salons and other commerce could reopen.

The rate of new coronavirus cases in the state has slowed significantly, but experts worry the respite could be brief if the more contagious variants of the coronavirus raging through Europe become prevalent in the United States.

The relaxation of restrictions comes as large parts of Southern California are still recording high death and hospitalization rates and many hospitals in Los Angeles County continue to be overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.

The changes on Monday do not by any stretch remove all virus-related restrictions in the state. The rescinding of the stay-at-home order, which had already been lifted in the Sacramento area nearly two weeks ago, returns the state to a tiered system of rules tied to the prevalence of the virus in each county. – Source

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