Production of The CW’s teen drama series Riverdale has been suspended after a member of the production team came into contact with someone who recently tested positive for the Chinese coronavirus, Warner Bros. Television announced on Wednesday.
“We have been made aware that a team member from ‘Riverdale,’ which is produced in Vancouver, was recently in contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19,” a spokesperson for Warner Bros said. “The team member is currently receiving a medical evaluation.”
They continued:
We are working closely with the appropriate authorities and health agencies in Vancouver to identify and contact all individuals who may have come into direct contact with our team member. The health and safety of our employees, casts and crews is always our top priority. We have and will continue to take precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world. Out of an abundance of caution, production on ‘Riverdale’ is currently suspended.
Riverdale joins a list of shows already impacted by the coronavirus. Another crew member from the upcoming Fox series neXt tested positive for the disease while filming in Chicago. Meanwhile, CBS has suspended production of the 41st season of Survivor, which is scheduled to take place on the island of Fiji, because of “growing short-term uncertainty surrounding the global spread of COVID-19.”
The global infection rate from the coronavirus continues to rise, with more than 127,000 confirmed cases worldwide and over 4,600 deaths. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a “global pandemic,” with its director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus claiming to be “deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity.”
“All countries can still change the course of this pandemic,” he said. “If countries detect, test, treat, isolate, trace and mobilize their people in the response.”
President Donald Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday night in a live speech from the White House and announced a 30 day travel ban from Europe to the United States.
“After consulting with our top government health professionals, I have decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and wellbeing of all Americans. To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days,” President Trump said. “The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe.”
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