Amidst encouragement from the Los Angeles County Health Department, CBS Studios will be postponing production on several of its shows due to rise in COVID-19 cases continue to rise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Initially slated to begin production on January 4, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, SEAL Team, Why Women Kill, and Diary of a Future President will now resume on January 11.
Los Angeles county currently has 719,833 confirmed coronavirus cases and 9,482 total deaths, both of which are expected to increase within the coming weeks due to the holiday season. On December 24, the health department wrote, “Although music, TV, and film productions are allowed to operate, we ask you to strongly consider pausing work for a few weeks during this catastrophic surge in COVID cases,” via The Hollywood Reporter. CBS Studios’ delays come as stay-at-home order for Southern California was extended through January 6. However, film and TV production has been considered an essential business in Los Angeles County which has given filmmakers the ability to continue production and employ thousands of people during the pandemic, as The Hollywood Reporter iterates.
While the aforementioned five shows will return in the earlier weeks of January, the studio’s other projects will begin production later in the month. California recorded the highest single-day cases so far in the pandemic, with 66,811 and 16,914 people hospitalized.