Los Angeles Production Grinds To A Halt Amid Covid-19 Surge; Netflix Is Latest Major Studio To Pause Filming

Another week during the coronavirus pandemic, another grim milestone for Los Angeles County.

Legendary longtime journalist, host, and interviewer Larry King has died.

There was good news and bad news on the LA Covid-19 front on Friday. On the one hand, the key numbers were down virtually across the board. On the other hand, with virus variants worrying officials and the region’s vaccine rollout sputtering, there was concern of another surge.

Don Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a stalwart of the Los Angeles Dodgers' rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, died Tuesday. He was 75.

Justin Bieber is hitting the road for his latest music project.

As Los Angeles's public health officials are calling the city's current COVID-19 surge — in which 10 people are testing positive for the virus every minute — the "worst disaster our county has experienced in decades," Hollywood's top studios have begun their return to production in L.A.

Covid-19 outbreaks at workplaces have soared dramatically in recent weeks in response to rising community transmission, Los Angeles County health officials said today, warning that employers need to ensure their workers and customers are protected.

Production in Los Angeles hit new pandemic-era lows last month. FilmLA released its latest report examining filming in the greater Los Angeles area in the month of December, revealing that film permit requests dropped a steep 25 percent compared to the prior month.

Austin Beutner, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said Monday that students will have to receive the inoculation once it is available before heading back into the classroom, according to a report.   The Los Angeles Times reported that Beutner compared the move to how schools already require vaccinations for measles and mumps.

“This very clearly is the latest surge for the winter holidays and New Year’s.” That was Los Angeles Public Health Chief Science Officer Dr. Paul Simon on Friday. “It’s likely to continue over the next week or two. We do expect these numbers continue to be high over the next couple weeks,” he said.

“The very high numbers I will report today are, sadly, not a surprise,” said Los Angeles Public Health Chief Science Officer Dr. Paul Simon on Friday.

With production stalled in Los Angeles amid the city's latest COVID-19 surge, the industry is wrestling with when it'll be able to return to work safely in one of its most popular filming regions. The major studios and streamers have paused production on the bulk of their L.A.-based projects, most of which were already on a hiatus over the holidays, marking the town's biggest shutdown since March when the virus first began to spread in the U.S.

Los Angeles County hospitals are so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients that EMS workers were told Monday to ration oxygen, according to reports.  The L.A.