Oscars: Mask Mandate Will Likely Not Apply; No Vaccinations Required Either – Update
UPDATED: Oscar attendees will likely not have to mask up, after all. While the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has not yet made public its plans around masking at the March 27 ceremony, the Los Angeles County Public Health Department offered some hope today that all those famous faces will not be covered up on TV.
In response to a Deadline query about masking at the event, the LADPH issued the following statement:
More from Deadline
“As current rates of community transmission continue to decrease, it is likely that the threshold for Indoor Mega Events will soon increase to 1,000 attendees. Public Health will work with the Oscars on their COVID protocols in-line with what is required for television productions.”
That last line in the above statement is key.
Currently, L.A. requires masks in most indoor public spaces and at all indoor “mega-events” with over 500 attendees. That’s even as California announced it will ease state requirements. (Local authorities like L.A. can be more restrictive than the state.) The catch with the Oscars is, awards shows aren’t considered “mega-events” under L.A. Public Health rules. They fall under the protocols for TV productions.
When the Emmys took place in September, there was a hue and cry over images of unmasked celebrities in crowded rooms. L.A. officials later explained the distinction between mega-events and TV productions allowed for the doffing of masks at the ceremony.
“LA County’s Health Officer order requires everyone to wear a mask indoors, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated. However, exceptions are made for film, television, and music productions, as additional safety modifications are made for these controlled interactions,” the Health Department said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
“The Emmy Award Show is a television production, and persons appearing on the show are considered performers. All persons appearing on or in the audience of the Emmy Award Show were fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Also, Public Health was informed that each of these persons had a verified negative PCR test 48 hours prior to the show.”
The current Return to Work agreement allows for performers to be maskless while performing.
As far as vaccinations, Deadline confirmed yesterday that the Academy will not be requiring shots, just a recent negative test. That’s well within the rules for both TV productions and indoor public gatherings.
PREVIOUSLY on Wednesday: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will not require Oscar ceremony attendees to be vaccinated, Deadline has confirmed with a source close to the situation. Attendees will only need to show a recent negative Covid test. The Academy has not responded to Deadline’s requests for comment.
The move marks a break from requirements at other big, televised events such as this weekend’s Super Bowl, Lakers and Kings Games at Crypto.com Arena and the like.
The Los Angeles County Health Department has mandated attendees at such indoor & outdoor “mega-events” (defined by an audience of over 500 indoors and over 5,000 outdoors) be either vaccinated or present and negative test result. Most venues and events have offered both options.
An even bigger question for the event, however, may be the issue of masks. They are definitely required indoors at mega-events by the county, and the proposition of a sea of masked faces at the Oscars is less than the glitzy ideal the event has come to embody.
According to the source, discussions are still ongoing about masks and crowd size. There may be some wiggle room if the Academy decides to whittle the event’s guest list below 500 attendees.
The County Public Heath Department requirement for masks at mega-events states that “masks are required to be worn by everyone, 2 years age and older, regardless of Covid-19 vaccination status, in…all indoor public settings, venues, gatherings, public and private businesses.” That includes so-called indoor mega-events with crowds of more than 500 people.
Many large indoor and outdoor events have simply not enforced the rule, as anyone who has watched a Lakers home game or viewed the recent NFC Championship game at SoFi can attest. County rules say enforcement of the masking rule is the responsibility of the venues themselves under threat of (eventual) fines but, it appears no such sanctions have been levied. The Dolby Theater could just follow suit and hope for the best, but the optics of hundreds of celebrities flouting a mask ordinance would likely play differently than the sight of thousands of sports fans doing so.
County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said earlier this week, “This is not the right time to stop wearing our masks indoors and in crowded outdoor settings.” She then went on to outline a framework for reducing Covid mitigation measures as the current Omicron surge fades. The requirements in that framework may be achievable by late March. But yesterday Ferrer added a new requirement.
That newest condition for loosening masking rules at indoor mega-events (and many other settings) is FDA approval of vaccines for children under 5 years old. Ferrer estimated that that would happen toward the end of the month. She said that once there has been adequate time for those children to get vaccinated and then have the vaccines take effect, the local strictures will be loosened. Ferrer estimated that time period would be eight weeks. That’s eight weeks after the vaccine becomes available for kinds under 5. Basic math indicates, then, that the rules around mega-events would be altered in late April.
All of that could be moot by Sunday, March 27, however.
Earlier this week, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the lifting of many state-level strictures on February 16, including the indoor mask mandate for vaccinated residents. He also has indicated that the state will unveil its “endemic plan” next week, which should offer a kinder, gentler set of guidelines designed for living with the virus.
Local rules can be more strict than the state’s, but such a statewide loosening will vastly increase the pressure on L.A. officials to follow suit. In fact, it’s already started.
County Supervisor Kathryn Barger yesterday called on Public Health to align with the state saying, “My concern is that these will become provisions that will last in perpetuity. Committing to keeping these in place until late spring is inconsistent with measures across the country and the state.”
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.