Days of Our Lives Halts Production for Two Weeks After Positive COVID-19 Test
Days of Our Lives is halting production for two weeks after a crew member tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The positive COVID-19 test came to light as part of the show’s testing protocol and the production team member who tested positive is now in isolation for 14 days, according to Deadline. The daytime soap opera — in the midst of its 56th season — will resume taping following the two-week production halt on Oct. 26, with new episodes airing as planned, the outlet reports.
When Days of Our Lives stopped filming at the height of the pandemic earlier this year, the show had enough episodes already filmed to air through October. This allowed them to resume production later than many others, on Sept. 1.
The NBC program is now among the many TV shows and movies that have halted production after someone was discovered to be COVID-positive during routine testing. All American, Young Sheldon, Chicago Med, The Batman movie and Jurassic World: Dominion all paused filming to allow for quarantining after positive tests. Luckily for projects like Robert Pattinson's The Batman, production was resumed in mid-September.
Chicago Med, also an NBC show, announced late last month that a regular rapid test on the set came back positive for a crew member, and the person was sent home, Deadline reported and NBC confirmed to PEOPLE at the time.
The positive test also prompted contact tracing — one of the guidelines in the NBCU Production Playbook — and a 14-day production shut down out of caution.
Chicago Med is currently filming for its sixth season, which is set to premiere on November 11th alongside its fellow Chicago series’ — Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. According to Variety, the production pause did not delay the season premiere for Chicago Med nor the production plans for the other two Chicago shows, which began filming Oct. 6.
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