The Union des artistes (UDA) urges Public Health to tighten health rules on film sets, as COVID-19 has disrupted two of the biggest television productions of the winter in recent days, Big Brother Celebrities and Star Academy, despite the protocol already in place.
Current guidelines date from when the virus was much less contagious and two-dose vaccination offered considerable protection. Hence the urgency of adapting the Health Standards Guide to the virulence of the Omicron variant, claims Sophie Prégent, president of the UDA.
“The current sanitary measures are neither effective nor adequate for Omicron, very clearly. I am very, very worried, ”she denounced in a serious tone, in an interview with the Duty.
Sophie Prégent does not fail to recall that artists have the particularity of working without protective equipment, and often in close proximity to their colleagues, which makes them even more vulnerable to the virus. Obviously, the president of the UDA understands that it is unthinkable for actors to shoot with masks, but she remains convinced that a tightening of standards is possible, without canceling non-essential filming as at the beginning. of the pandemic.
“With two doses currently, we can shoot according to pre-pandemic conditions. We can kiss, touch, and there is no bubble … Me, I find it very worrying, ”continues Sophie Prégent, who wants to leave however to public health specialists the care of enacting the new rules. for film sets.
The Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST) last Friday updated the guide to the performing arts, which have been on hold since the end of December due to the closure of performance halls. The new instructions for the audiovisual sector, they are long overdue. A meeting was scheduled last week on this subject, but it was canceled at the last minute by the CNESST.
outbreaks
It is still reported that new rules will be announced in the coming days, even the next few hours. In the meantime, the UDA fears new outbreaks, such as those that the teams of Big Brother Celebrities and of Star Academy.
The famous TVA show was supposed to kick off its new season on Sunday, but the first gala was postponed the same morning after four candidates tested positive for a screening test. Productions Déferlantes did not wish to comment on the situation on Monday, but had indicated in the media of the Quebecor group this weekend that the first gala would take place next Sunday instead.
The box behind Star Academy has also indicated that the candidates have all been in administrative isolation since January 3 in view of their participation in the show. Once this quarantine is lifted, participants will form a bubble, but will still be in contact with the teachers of the academy and the guest artists during the season.
Nothing like it on the set of Big Brother Celebrities, where the participants live in isolation, without contact with the technical team, which is behind the scenes. The celebrities also had a period of isolation and had to submit to drug tests before packing their bags in the studio specially designed for the filming of the reality show broadcast on Noovo.
Despite everything, the COVID-19 managed to make its way, to everyone’s surprise. Comedian Eddy King tested positive a few days after entering. A second celebrity later also received a positive result, production said on social media on Sunday.
Could the virus have interfered in the air ducts that link the candidates and the production team? “Difficult to confirm how they were able to obtain a positive test when they had had several negative results and the participants are isolated,” replied Bell Media in an email sent to the Duty.
The DD Marie-France Raynault recalls, however, that one can indeed be a carrier of the virus while being negative at first to a screening test. “It does not surprise me that there are cases, there are everywhere. A negative test guarantees absolutely nothing. A test is not perfect, ”said the one who works with the CNESST on the development of the new guide for the television industry.
Zero risk impossible
Producers are not as keen as the Union des artistes on the idea of submitting to these new standards, which will further complicate filming. “That trays are currently postponed because there are outbreaks, it shows that the rules work and that the producers take it seriously. But unfortunately, zero risk on the sets does not exist, ”said Hélène Messier, president and general manager of the Quebec Association of Media Production (AQPM).
A feeling shared by Michel Trudeau, the producer of District 31, whose start of filming had to be postponed by a week at the beginning of the month due to cases of COVID-19 within the technical team.
That trays are currently postponed because there are outbreaks shows that the rules work and that producers take it seriously. But unfortunately, zero risk on set does not exist.
“The more clarity we have, the better, but at the same time, the CNESST can hardly add more rules. No one is obliged to do the impossible,” maintains Michel Trudeau.