Hollywood: Filming halted after coronavirus outbreak

The Hollywood suspended most of the filming of television and film productions, at least until mid-January, the actors' union announced, as the cases of COVID-19 continue to move at record levels in the Los Angeles, one of the main outbreaks of the pandemic in USA.

«Most productions will stop by the second or third week of January, if not later,» the union said. SAG-AFTRA in a statement.

Days earlier, Los Angeles County health officials urged filmmakers to «consider shutting down their operations for a few weeks during this devastating increase in Covid cases.».

Los Angeles, the most densely populated county in the United States, with about ten million residents, records almost daily record infections, with hospitals overwhelmed by patients.

To date, some 750,000 infections have been officially identified in the county, where the virus has led to the deaths of 10,000 people.

Ban measures put in place in early December in an effort to contain the spread of the virus have been extended indefinitely across southern California, where emergency services are under great pressure and ambulances are under pressure and ambulances are spending hours searching for a hospital bed for patients they are transporting.

The SAG-AFTRA union has stepped up its initiatives to resume filming in Hollywood after the lockdown last March, notably through an agreement signed in September with the major studios on health measures to be implemented to protect actors, including thorough testing.

Despite the precautions, productions struggled to restart in Los Angeles. In October, the activity rate did not even reach 50% of its usual seasonal level, and the spike in cases reduced that rate further in recent weeks.

According to Film LA, the Los Angeles film licensing agency, applications were at their lowest level since the resumption of business in Hollywood this summer.

Aside from a few dozen independent films, very few feature films were shot in the Los Angeles area this year, with most of the productions focusing on commercials and music videos.

In contrast, big-budget films have resumed shooting outside the US, such as Tom Cruise's new Mission Impossible in the UK and Italy, or Supergirl and Batwoman in Canada.

One of the factors preventing the resumption of filming in California is the refusal of insurance companies to cover coronavirus-related incidents that occur during filming.