Star Trek: Picard has shut down production after dozens involved with the production tested positive for COVID-19, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Paramount Plus show, which stars Patrick Stewart, is a spinoff of Star Trek: The Next Generation and continues the adventures of the legendary Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
About 50 positive tests came through — from a total crew size of 450 — Monday during the first day back on set since Christmas break, after which production immediately shut down.
Sources said filming of the show might resume as early as next week, however, but the details on that are still quite vague.
This all comes as a record-breaking number of coronavirus cases have been surging across the country, with the more transmissible omicron variant is now dominant in the U.S. A single-day coronavirus new case record of more than one million was reached Monday, according to Smithsonian Magazine.
In Los Angeles specifically, where Picard is filmed, 26,754 new cases, 2,240 hospitalizations, and 27 deaths were recorded on Wednesday, according to data from the state of California. The Golden State as a whole has seen 59,000 cases per day, on average, from New Year’s Eve through Monday, Jan. 3.
The coronavirus also caused another CBS Studios show to shut down production this week, NCIS, along with many other shows. And across the coast in New York City, the Today Show’s host Hoda Kotb has also had to isolate at home due to testing positive for the virus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, currently available vaccines are expected to protect “against severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths due to infection with the Omicron variant, despite more breakthrough cases expected to occur with omicron, even among those who are already vaccinated. This week, the agency estimated that about 95.4% of U.S. coronavirus cases are now from the omicron variant.
