Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank is reporting a sudden spike in COVID instances as Los Angeles County grapples with its highest weekly common of latest instances since final summer time’s Delta surge.
As of Tuesday, 43 confirmed instances had been reported to the L.A. County Division of Public Well being. The rise in infections comes only one month after the studio started requiring staff to return to the workplace no less than three days every week.
Warner Bros. is just not the one studio to see a current COVID outbreak. On Tuesday, Walt Disney Co. and Fox Sports activities reported six and 10 new instances, respectively, amongst their staff. In Might, Lionsgate reported 21 new infections.
The handfuls of instances rising amongst Hollywood studios — and L.A. County as a complete — come because the county expects to shift into the “excessive” stage on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s COVID-19 neighborhood stage tracker. As of Wednesday, L.A. County remained at a “medium” stage, however that standing might change if instances proceed to rise.
If the county strikes into the excessive stage for 2 consecutive weeks, it’s ready to reinstate its indoor masks mandate as quickly as July 29.
At a gathering of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, County Public Well being Director Barbara Ferrer mentioned the county is experiencing its first leap in COVID-19 deaths because the winter surge.
“Whereas we’re not seeing wherever close to the devastation this summer time that we noticed throughout final winter’s Omicron surge, we’re seeing a lot larger case numbers than we noticed in the course of the peak of the Delta surge,” Ferrer mentioned.
The rise in coronavirus infections, significantly at workplaces, has specialists involved. The county is urging employers with three or extra COVID instances inside a two-week interval to think about encouraging staff to work remotely when possible.
