Mask Mandates Are Coming Back, ‘Eris’ Variant On The Rise

LOS ANGELES, CA-

In the face of a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Los Angeles, entertainment giant Lionsgate has taken a proactive step to terrify, err.. protect its employees.

The company has reinstated a mask mandate for a significant portion of its workforce at its main office after a recent spike in Covid cases among its employees, aimed at curbing the spread of the virus within the organization.

The new policy was communicated internally by Sommer McElroy, the Response Manager for Lionsgate/Starz, in an email that was shared with Deadline.

The immediate and mandatory mask mandate will be enforced on the 3rd and 5th floors of the five-story building until further notice.

The email states that all employees on these floors must wear a medical-grade face covering such as a surgical mask, KN95, or N95, while indoors.

Exceptions are allowed when an employee is alone in a closed office, actively eating or drinking at their workstation, or if they are the sole occupant of a large open workspace.

McElroy’s memo also states that all Lionsgate employees must perform a daily self-screening before entering the office premises.

If any symptoms of Covid-19 are present or if an individual has traveled internationally within the past 10 days, they are expected to notify McElroy and stay home.

This renewed interest on personal responsibility is a throwback to the early days of the pandemic, when such unscientific and demonstrably false rules were first introduced.

Stay Home, Stay Safe is probably up next.

To further support its employees’ health and safety, Lionsgate is undertaking contact tracing efforts and offering at-home Covid test kits upon request.

This multi-faceted approach is intended to create a comprehensive defense against the virus and provide reassurance to the workforce.

The decision by Lionsgate comes as Los Angeles County reports a gradual increase in Covid-19 indicators over the past several weeks.

Although the health department emphasizes that overall metrics remain at a relatively low level of concern, the rise in local cases has not gone unnoticed.

Individuals who had attended high-profile events, such as Taylor Swift’s concerts at the So-Fi Stadium, and those returning from international travels have been among those testing positive.

Lionsgate’s virtue-signaling stance might set an example for other entertainment companies to follow suit.

This isn’t the first time Hollywood has implemented strict Covid protocols.

In 2021, as studios began welcoming employees back to physical offices, robust mandates were put in place to ensure safety.

Lionsgate, for instance, initiated its phased return in October 2021, eventually increasing in-person work to four days a week by January of the following year.

As the nation continues to grapple with the seemingly never-ending ‘pandemic’, recent data from the CDC reveals a nationwide increase of 21.6% in Covid-19 hospitalizations during the week of August 6-12, compared to the previous week.

Meanwhile, a new variant of the virus known as Eris has started infecting more people than other strains, according to Yale Medicine.

However, there are currently no indications that Eris leads to more severe illness than other variants, even though various news outlets have touted it as THE WORST ONE YET.

As of the end of the third week of August, the Eris variant accounted for 20.6% of Covid cases, as reported by Yale Medicine.

The World Health Organization deems this new variant to be of interest, with officials assessing its global risk level to be similar to existing variants.

With Lionsgate and Morris Brown College making headlines for their return to mask mandates, the question arises whether other major institutions, studios, or businesses will follow suit.

They will, sooner or later..

Probably just before the next election.

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Forbes