COVID 19

Beyond Omicron, 
Relaxed Restrictions 
What’s Next ?

March 5, 2022

Omicrom, new variants and what is next for the world of media content production in our new normal?
As mask mandates are relaxed and regulations are eased, what does that mean for the world of media production?

The CDC, Scientific consensus and our governmental brain trust have determined with the subsiding Omicron surge that we will live with COVID and trying maintain a pre-covid lifestyles and work environments. 

Is it too early or not advisable from a scientific standpoint to relax our mitigation measures? 

The answer is NO. 

We are in the ideal position to relax guidelines, protocols and restrictions. However that does not mean COVID is not a concern nor does it mean that we can not monitor and revise our measures commensurate to the dynamic and fluid epidemiological conditions we face in the pandemic – post pandemic – return to pandemic as the science dictates.

Omicron variant was an extremely transmissive, but relatively pathophysiological mild mutation of the Corona-19 virus. This variant was very fortunate, as many unvaccinated were motivated to vaccinate and NYS is approaching the target of a 90% vaccinated populace. 
Due to recent and mild infection through Omicron, many vaccinated and unvaccinated, now have boosted immunity. This immunity may last 3-6 months or until a newer variant evades these antibodies.

In most counties in NYS, infections are below 10 per 100,000 of the population and risk today is incredibly low, meaning the odds of interacting with an infected person in quite low – this coupled with an 88% vaccination rate and increased immunity of our populace, we have extremely low infection rates and lowering mitigation efforts at this time makes perfect sense. 

Unfortunately we have not eliminated COVID 19 world-wide or even nationally. and there are still states in the USA that have local hot spots. Internationally there are more than a few hot spots and refugee migration in Europe might elevate infection rates. 

The more a virus replicates the better the odds of a new mutation generating a dangerous transmissive variant. The less it replicates the lower the odds. However as long as infections continue to spread, there is the chance of this variant occurring. Until we can vaccinate a large portion of the worlds population or isolate the virus, it will remain with us. It is possible a refugee crisis in Eastern Europe exacerbate  Covid 19 and facilitate spread of infection and foster new variants.

For now our 7 days averages for NY and CA for infection per 100k are below 10, R0 rates are below 1 & positivity rates are all indicative of low risk and have met the De-Escalation triggers prescribed by SAG, AFTRA, DGA and a host of the trade union guidelines that direct our actions for Union and Non-Union alike.
So while we should take advantage during this time of lower risk expected to preside over the next few months, we should remain vigilant and aware that this situation is not static and could change at any time.

While we can’t say for certain what union protocols will look like after April; it could be we are allowed to me be maskless on set, we may only need to test weekly, bi-weekly or possibly only when some one is symptomatic.  What we can say – from a covid standpoint for content production is that this spring should be amongst the safest of times, within the past two years, to enter into production.
However – we do recommend health & safety remain a consideration and a flexible/scalable and well prepared health & safety plan be in place for every production. 

At Show Health & Safety – we have experienced experts in Infection Control, Health & Fire Safety, Emergency Medical Response and Emergency Management. We can help you manage risk and comply with changing protocols as they evolve and determine a path that will lower costs, ensure safety and better your on set environment. in addition to offering CCOs pre-employment testing, on set covid testing — we are offering to provide a HST/Medic on set to manage any covid or other health, safety or medical issues – and provide infection control guidance – onsite testing if determined necessary.

Please call us today to review your plans for any upcoming productions. 

Omicron Variant so extraordinarily contagious, even quick transient interactions can lead to infection.

The Heavily Mutated Omicron Variant

has resulted in the most transmissive version

of SARS Cov-2 Virus to date.

Along with a New Year, New Yorkers and most American’s, will be ringing in a COVID-19 surge, due to the highly transmissive nature of the Omicron Variant.

Many infections are resulting from very brief encounters with infected persons. Many in science are considering indirect transmission as a viable means of spreading infection. Due to the Omicron variant’s high level of transmissiveness, Mitigation measures for the work place and home should be scaled up.

“Omicron is truly everywhere,” Dr. Megan Ranney, a professor of emergency medicine at Brown University’s School of Public Health, told CNN on Friday night. “What I am so worried about over the next month or so is that our economy is going to shut down, not because of policies from the federal government or from the state governments, but rather because so many of us are ill.”

The nation broke records several times this week for its seven-day average of new daily Covid-19 cases, reporting an all-time high of more than 386,000 new daily infections Friday, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The high case count is already causing disruptions in the country.

This means in order to prevent a work closures we must scale up all infection control mitigation measures as prescribed by the chain of infection methods of infection control

Screening for infectious persons ( temp check, testing ) Proper Mask wearing, Frequent Hand Hygiene and surface disinfection, ventilation ( mechanical & natural ), social distancing and vaccination.

While many persons infected with COVID-19 (B.1.1.529), the Omicron Variant do not experience severe illness, hospitalization rates are up. Healthcare services are becoming exhausted after several surges of the virus and now stretched thin again by a growing number of Covid-19 patients — are also already feeling impacts. Each week many facilities are joining a growing list of medical centers & hospitals in the nation to activate emergency protocols after a sharp rise in cases fueled staffing & equipment shortages while overwhelming emergency departments.

CoViD 19 Variants of Concern

Variants and Infection Control

UPDATE: Omicron Variant detected in more
than 50 Countries and 19 States

New Variants will continue to emerge as the SARS-Corona Virus-2 continues to replicate around the globe in mass scale. How these mutations effect the mitigation methods we use in Media Production and Live Events will need to be determined, however established principals of infection control still apply. When aspects such as transmissivity, vaccine efficacy, testing accuracy are less certain due to new variants, we must scale up our mitigation efforts in other areas — such as mask wearing, disinfection, hand hygiene, ventilation/air filtration, social distancing etc.

Now is a good time to review the Chain of Infection principles and review which tools may become less effective with emergent variants and which tools we will need to rely upon more.

For example; should vaccination efficacy diminish with new variants, we can no longer allow those vaccinated to remain in our work environment after a close contact even if they are without symptoms. There are many other considerations, such as the ability for existing test to detect positives of the new variant, until this is determined we need to rely more on temperature screening along with health & screening to offset any diminished accuracy or sensitivity of our existing tests to the new variant. 

While it is impossible to eliminate all risk of infection in a production setting, We have better technology and more tools to lower risk to acceptable level than we did at the beginning of the pandemic. It is not time to panic, but time to review our strategies and ensure we minimize risk where ever possible. 

 

Until now new variants, including the delta variant, have remained detectable with most current covid antigen and molecular testing technologies. Molecular, antigen, and serology tests are affected by viral mutations differently due to the inherent differences in the mechanisms of each test.  Each test type needs to be re-evaluated with every significant variant. It is important to note over time SARS-CoV-2 virus mutations can result in enough genetic variation in the population of circulating viral strains over the course of the pandemic and may require us re-engineer assays / reagents based on viral RNA of new variants to ensure accuracy in detecting infection.

A mutation  of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a change in the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus  when compared with a reference sequence such as Wuhan-Hu1 (the first genetic sequence identified) or USA-WA1/2020 (the first identified in the United States). A new variant  of SARS-CoV-2 may have one or more mutations that differentiate it from the reference sequence or predominant virus variants already circulating in the population. Variants of SARS-CoV-2 can have different characteristics. For example, some may spread more easily or show signs of resistance to existing treatments or vaccinations. Some may be less detectable, While some may have no impact when compared with previous and currently circulating virus.

Omicron Variant

Initially detected in South Africa, Omicron Variant has now been detected in Europe, Asia, Oceania and North America. This new variant is have 50 characteristic mutations from the original SARS Cov-2 virus. Based on the ability of Omicron Variant to out compete Delta Variant, it is inherently more transmissive, other aspects of the variant are yet to be determined. 

Some of those mutations were already recognized from other variants and were known to make them more dangerous, including one called E484K that can make the virus less recognizable to some antibodies — immune system proteins that are a frontline defense against infection and that form the basis of monoclonal antibody treatments. This may make this variant more evasive of vaccine promoted immune response. It may also make it less detectable from established diagnostic testing. also carries a mutation called N501Y, which gave both the Alpha and Gamma variants their increased transmissibility. This particular mutation made the virus better at replicating in the upper airway — think in the nose and throat — and likely makes it more likely to spread when people breathe, sneeze and cough. Like Delta, Omicron also carries a mutation called D614G, which appears to help the virus better attach to the cells it infects.

Most worrisome to scientists is the number of mutations affecting the spike protein. Most of the leading vaccines target this spike protein. Vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and other companies all use just small pieces or genetic sequences of the virus and not whole virus, and all of them use bits of the spike protein to elicit an Immune response. Any mutation in the spike protein can make the virus less recognizable to our immune system.

As of now there is no evidence this has occurred. The next weeks will determine if more breakthrough infections are caused by Omicron than by other variants. In the mean time we do need to scale up all mitigation measures we utilize in media production and live events, if we are to continue to work.

Please feel free to contact our infection control experts to discuss how to best protect your production or events. info@showhss.com

Scott Zelenetz is an Advanced Life Saving-Critical Care EMS provider and has been involved public safety and emergency management since 1988 in the states of NY, NJ and FL. He is the Director of Safey & Medical for NICA and has written mitigations plans and protocols for many public and private entities including municipalities, public safety agencies, schools, film and television productions, live events, theatrical productions, sporting events and businesses. He has served as an infection control officer at the Javits US Naval Field Hospital and NJ DOH Paramus testing site.