In a year also rife with awful events and social unrest, the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has been the absolute worst part of 2020, ensuring that an overwhelming majority of people around the globe are stuck inside or practicing extreme social distancing. However, despite all of that effort, the virus has still infected over 33 million worldwide and garnered a death toll of 1 million.
Of course, if you’ve watched the news this year, you’d be well aware that the United States has remained the epicenter of COVID-19 since quite early on in the outbreak, and things haven’t started to look any better recently. As a matter of fact, the country recently broke 7 million cases and 200,000 deaths, and as the end of the year prepares everyone for flu season, the complications are only going to become more serious.
Though things continue to worsen, the entertainment industry is doing its best to keep moving forward, and movie and TV show sets are being forced to become more and more strict with their safety precautions. AMC’s The Walking Dead was among the many series that halted production in the early months of the pandemic, but with shooting back in full swing now, the actors and crew are dealing with some new protocols.
In a virtual interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, star Norman Reedus spoke up about the many changes on the set, and some of them sound pretty intense.
We have all these protocols now. We have to take COVID tests three times a week. The epidemiologist from the Pentagon during the SARS scare is our on-set doctor now. There’s a whole thing going on over here.
Having an epidemiologist on the set may sound unusual, but with a production as massive as The Walking Dead, it’s not completely surprising. It’s just good to hear everyone is being kept safe so that they can wrap up the additional six episodes of season 10, which will air sometime next year.