Deadline Reports: Lionsgate Reintroduces Covid Mask Mandate in Santa Monica Office – Great

EXCLUSIVE: Amid rising Covid cases in Los Angeles, Lionsgate has brought back the mask mandate for nearly half of the company’s employees at its flagship office at 2700 Colorado Ave. in Santa Monica.

The policy change was announced internally by Sommer McElroy, Response Manager for Lionsgate/Starz, in an email, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline. Implemented in response to several employees recently testing positive for Covid, it involves a mandatory mask mandate effective immediately and until further notice for the 3rd and 5th floors of the five-story building, the email said.

“Employees must wear a medical grade face covering (surgical mask, KN95 or N95) when indoors except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace,” McElroy said in the memo.

In another throwback to the early years of the pandemic, every Lionsgate employee is required to perform a daily self-screening prior to coming to the office each day and must notify McElroy and stay home if exhibiting any symptoms or have traveled internationally in the last 10 days. The latter would impact a number of a people, coming in the middle of summer vacation season.

Lionsgate also is conducting contact tracing and providing at-home Covid test kits upon request.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported recently “small increases in COVID-19 indicators over the past four weeks indicating increased transmission,” though the statement also stressed that “overall metrics remain at a low level of concern.”

Still, there has been a noticeable rise in local cases recently, with a number of people reporting infections — including some who had attended Taylor Swift’s six sold-out concerts at So-Fi Stadium and some who had returned from overseas — so Lionsgate’s example might be followed by other entertainment companies.

Hollywood studios instituted strict Covid mandates as they started bringing employees to the offices in 2021. Lionsgate started the phased process in October 2021; the company expanded the in-person requirement to four days a week in January of this year.