The entertainment industry continues to adapt to the new normal brought about by the global coronavirus pandemic. One of these changes is the rigorous testing and quarantining required to keep everyone safe.
The Hollywood Reporter says that the latest production to temporarily suspend production because of a positive coronavirus test is the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives. According to the publication, filming for the show will pause on Oct. 26 and last for two weeks.
Aside from pausing the production, The Hollywood Reporter says that the production team member that has tested positive for the coronavirus has already been isolated. Also in quarantine are all the people that the person has interacted with.
Deadline notes that even with the halt in production, Days of Our Lives air dates will not be delayed. The show will also continue showing new episodes and will not be airing reruns even with the production halt.
This is because of the long-running show films episodes months in advance. While similar shows eventually ran out of new episodes when industry-wide production freezes were introduced in March, Days Of Our Lives had enough episodes to last it until October.
A number of other shows have had to delay production because of similar reasons. The Bold and the Beautiful, a CBS soap opera, has also had to halt production because of a positive coronavirus result. NBC’s Chicago Med and ABC’s For Life also suspended filming for similar reasons.
Across the pond, the competition reality show Strictly Come Dancing has had two positive coronavirus results -- one from a crew member and another from a contestant.
Once it was announced that a crew member had tested positive for the coronavirus, the BBC show immediately sent home other crew members and sanitized the set with electrostatic sprayers.
One of the competitors, YouTuber and singer HRVY, also tested positive for the virus and had to be put in quarantine. HRVY -- real name Harvey Cantwell -- also recently announced that he has now tested negative for the virus.
Cantwell announced his negative diagnosis on Twitter, attaching an image of him jumping in puddles. He described himself in the tweet as “a free elf” and expressed his gratitude to his fans and well-wishers.
The global coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the world, which means production delays like the ones in Days of Our Lives and Strictly Come Dancing could become regular occurrences.
According to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard for Oct. 12, there are now 37,423,660 confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world. The total number of deaths caused by COVID-19 is now at 1,074,817 people.