Covid-19, Part VII - Staying On Topic...

[Falls City Beer]

Hey, man. You're the expert here. I trust whatever you have to say.

Nah that’s you. And 757. You got it on lock. Tell us peasants how it is.

[BernieCarbo]

Bernie knows but I imagine there’s no written document “they got COVID” at the place of work. Maybe speculated but so long as weasel words are smartly included it doesn’t mean the company admitted anything.

Maybe they did but I’d be suprised.

Exactly. There wasn’t a deposition by lawyers, and there wasn’t a criminal liability investigation. They were shocked that five people in one area turned out positive, and if that means they have to change what they’re doing, they will. They suspect that one person came in positive from the outside, and they don’t know who it is, and four more caught it. They are testing of these people was just a snapshot, and they don’t know how much the time overlapped between infections

In response, they moved everybody out of that area so nobody is even near each other at all and the ceilings are much higher. Those five people represented a lot of talent there, and to lose them for two weeks is bad enough without losing a bunch more. All they’re trying to do is stay in business. Nobody is in trouble, and nobody is talking a lawsuit.

[M2]

How is it August and people still don't know masks are so-so at preventing you from getting the virus but very good at preventing you from spreading the virus? I guess the answer is they know and are purposefully trying to blur the lines ... which seems an odd thing to be doing when thousands of people are dying every week.

[Falls City Beer]

How is it August and people still don't know masks are so-so at preventing you from getting the virus but very good at preventing you from spreading the virus? I guess the answer is they know and are purposefully trying to blur the lines ... which seems an odd thing to be doing when thousands of people are dying every week.

Or maybe people are interested in hearing a more anecdotal, nuanced perspective because their job is asking them if they want to return in-person or not. Instead of hearing the same high-pitched caterwauling you and others are doing repeatedly.

I’m going to be asked to be in a room with a bunch of 19-21 year olds in a few weeks. I’m interested in Bernie’s input.

[BernieCarbo]

How is it August and people still don't know masks are so-so at preventing you from getting the virus but very good at preventing you from spreading the virus? I guess the answer is they know and are purposefully trying to blur the lines ... which seems an odd thing to be doing when thousands of people are dying every week.

I don’t think anybody’s even questioning that. We know that.

[BernieCarbo]

Or maybe people are interested in hearing a more anecdotal, nuanced perspective because their job is asking them if they want to return or not. Instead of hearing the same high-pitched caterwauling you and others are doing repeatedly.

I’m going to be asked to be in a room with a bunch of 19-21 year olds in a few weeks. I’m interested in Bernie’s input.

That’s all I was trying to say. If nobody wore masks, probably all 30 of them would have been infected. But even with masks, and social distancing, it starting to spread among them. And this is exactly why opening schools this fall is insane, especially since many of the teachers and staff are elderly and vulnerable to this disease. If you are 50 years old, 100 pounds overweight with diabetes, a mask isn’t going to help you. And by you, I didn’t mean you specifically. I meant people in general.

[Falls City Beer]

That’s all I was trying to say. If nobody wore masks, probably all 30 of them would have been infected. But even with masks, and social distancing, it starting to spread among them. And this is exactly why opening schools this fall is insane, especially since many of the teachers and staff are elderly and vulnerable to this disease. If you are 50 years old, 100 pounds overweight with diabetes, a mask isn’t going to help you. And by you, I didn’t mean you specifically. I meant people in general.

I get what you’re saying. Absolutely. It’s a concern for me and my family. I’m not going to lie. I’m 53, generally very good health. But I feel like I’m at that age threshold. It could be fine but I could also be debilitated. I’m not crazy about doing Zoom classes, but I will if it’s enough of a risk. And frankly it seems like it might be. My classes are 90 minutes with lots of discussion.

[Wonderful Monds]

I don’t think anybody’s even questioning that. We know that.

Rojo has definitely directly made that assertion in the last few days in this very thread

[Falls City Beer]

Rojo has definitely directly made that assertion in the last few days in this very thread

Yeah, but what’s fascinating is that he’s not Rojo.

[BernieCarbo]

I get what you’re saying. Absolutely. It’s a concern for me and my family. I’m not going to lie. I’m 53, generally very good health. But I feel like I’m at that age threshold. It could be fine but I could also be debilitated. I’m not crazy about doing Zoom classes, but I will if it’s enough of a risk. And frankly it seems like it might be. My classes are 90 minutes with lots of discussion.

At the risk of setting up a flare for the usual suspects to start jumping on, I’ll mention another of my customers. They have about 1100 employees per shift, masks are mandatory everywhere, they take your temperature every day, and so far there have had zero cases. The difference? Oh office space and cubicles have been closed off. Everybody is out on the plant floor, and if you took all of the square footage and divided it between all employees, it’s about 2400 Square feet person. I can work all day without anybody coming within 100 feet of me. Also, the ceilings are very high and they have massive air exchange systems in place.

In a classroom, the cubic feet of air per person is minute compared to that, so when you take the particles that the masks let out in a concentrated room, it just won’t end well. Again, to even think this is going to work is insane. Not only is the social distancing 6 foot number important, But the cubic feet of air per person is also important when in an enclosed environment. That number has been used for 100 years to design HVAC systems, but you don’t even hear it mentioned in these discussions.

[mth123]

That’s all I was trying to say. If nobody wore masks, probably all 30 of them would have been infected. But even with masks, and social distancing, it starting to spread among them. And this is exactly why opening schools this fall is insane, especially since many of the teachers and staff are elderly and vulnerable to this disease. If you are 50 years old, 100 pounds overweight with diabetes, a mask isn’t going to help you. And by you, I didn’t mean you specifically. I meant people in general.

Masks will be less effective in schools than just about anywhere. If anyone expects a bunch of kids to wear their masks and maintain their distance throughout a school day, they are nuts. A parent sending a kid to school needs to be really responsible and assume the kid is being exposed every day he or she is there and when they aren't in school, they need to behave under those assumptions. I'm not confident that most parents are able to make that happen. Kids are going to get exposed during school and expose everyone else when the school day is over.

[Falls City Beer]

Masks will be less effective in schools than just about anywhere. If anyone expects a bunch of kids to wear their masks and maintain their distance throughout a school day, they are nuts. A parent sending a kid to school needs to be really responsible and assume the kid is being exposed every day he or she is there and when they aren't in school, they need to behave under those assumptions. I'm not confident that most parents are able to make that happen. Kids are going to get exposed during school and expose everyone else when the school day is over.

I mean the CDC guidelines exist in that terrain vague between a total joke and completely unrealistic.

[kaldaniels]

At the risk of setting up a flare for the usual suspects to start jumping on, I’ll mention another of my customers. They have about 1100 employees per shift, masks are mandatory everywhere, they take your temperature every day, and so far there have had zero cases. The difference? Oh office space and cubicles have been closed off. Everybody is out on the plant floor, and if you took all of the square footage and divided it between all employees, it’s about 2400 Square feet person. I can work all day without anybody coming within 100 feet of me. Also, the ceilings are very high and they have massive air exchange systems in place.

In a classroom, the cubic feet of air per person is minute compared to that, so when you take the particles that the masks let out in a concentrated room, it just won’t end well. Again, to even think this is going to work is insane. Not only is the social distancing 6 foot number important, But the cubic feet of air per person is also important when in an enclosed environment. That number has been used for 100 years to design HVAC systems, but you don’t even hear it mentioned in these discussions.

That’s very interesting.

I’d be interested in hearing 75’s details on his production - employees, space, etc.

[Rdirtypirates]

That’s very interesting.

I’d be interested in hearing 75’s details on his production - employees, space, etc.

I agree, I have heard him talk about it in at least ten posts of running a project. I would like a little info too since you flat out said you know more about this because you are running a project.

[757690]

That’s very interesting.

I’d be interested in hearing 75’s details on his production - employees, space, etc.

It's funny, because Bernie and I were in agreement after he provided more information about his first situation. I am not sure why our bickering continued, lol.

I generally don't like to talk about my work on forums likes this, but since you asked, I will provide a some details. First, it is very different from most other situations, I am producing a movie. We actually started way before Covid was even a thing, had shooting dates in May, but in March postponed them when this all happened. When LA County allowed film shoots again, we scheduled the shoot to start the second week of July. We worked with the LA County health department and the Screen Actors Guild to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with Covid on a set.

The first step was to rent a gigantic house in the middle of nowhere to be the set. This way we were the only ones there the entire time, and we could keep out anyone else. We had to deal with everything Bernie has been talking about, square footage, air flow, etc.. This meant no more than ten people in the house at any one time. It's a character based indie with a small cast, no more than 4 actors on set at any time (we re-wrote scenes to eliminate the need for background actors) so that meant a 6 person crew, which is tinier than than the tiniest skeleton crew I have ever worked with. This meant adding more days, since we would be working more slowly due to the size of the crew.

Everyone on set had to be tested both with a standard test a few days before and a rapid test the day before. Everyone had to provide a negative result from both tests in order to be on set. Everyone had to quarantine themselves after taking the first test. We had a health safety supervisor with medical and infectious disease training on set at all times, who would check everyone before the came into the house for the negative tests, took the temperature and asked them basic questions about where they had been in the last week. She also would monitor all of our actions and be there in case anyone wanted to report anything.

Every actor would be living at the house until their final day on set. The crew would live there full time. Everyone had their own room. Once you were in the house, you could not leave. No exceptions. No one else was allowed in the house during the entire shoot. The house did have a large backyard and patio, so people could hang out there, again providing they stayed six feet apart. Otherwise, everyone was isolated except when they were shooting.

Mask wearing was mandatory for everyone when inside, except for actors who were shooting. We had plenty of hand sanitizer, wipes, gloves, disenfectic on set at all time. We would wipe down the hot set after every take.

We had many other protocols, like no paper scripts, everything electronic, no hair and makeup person, video village had it's own room away from wherever the shooting was happening, personal water bottles, personal pens, only single serving food, individual meals, no catering, and so many more.

Of course, the actors on set could not stay six feet apart, but with all the other measures, especially the testing, that was allowed, and all the actors and SAG agreed to this. There were a few kissing scenes that we had to cut.

Unfortunately, that second week of July was when the testing went out of whack and results were delayed. When we realized this was happening, a few days before the shoot, we postponed it again, and are shooting, fingers crossed, the last week of August. Testing running better now, and the results for the standard test are taking around 36 hours.

If anyone is interested, I will provide an update when we start shooting.