Star Trek: Picard has had to pause production after more than 50 crew members reportedly tested positive for Covid-19. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the dozens of positive cases were confirmed on Monday, the first day back to work after the Christmas break.
The latest Star Trek series has a massive crew of approximately 450 people, and according to the report, infections spanned across multiple zones — including cast members in zone A. Production has been shut down since Monday, and it is predicted that filming will start up again early next week.
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is highly contagious, although it appears to cause milder symptoms in many people than previous strains of the virus. The CDC recently decreased their recommended quarantine period from 10 days to 5 days, since it appears that patients are most contagious within the first couple days of symptoms.
Los Angeles — where Picard currently films — recorded a whopping 26,754 new cases, 2,240 hospitalizations, and 27 deaths on January 5. THR reports that an average of 59,000 cases a day were reported between New Year’s Eve and Monday.
Picard’s temporary shutdown recalls memories of the extensive movie and TV production delays that occurred the past two years. Except this time, production is going dark not as a preventative measure, but in response to actual positive cases spreading throughout the crew.
The series stars Patrick Stewart as retired admiral Jean-Luc Picard, who has been deeply affected by the loss of Lieutenant Commander Data in Star Trek: Nemesis and the destruction of the planet Romulus in the 2009 film Star Trek. You can catch the first season now on Paramount+.
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