Why the Rash of Infections Among TV Talent… “The Dark Side of Key Station Corona Control”.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “priority measures to prevent the spread of the virus” were lifted on March 21, and key stations returned to normal mode, switching from remote appearances to studio appearances to deal with the new coronavirus. However, early on, “Mezamashi TV” and “Widener Show” (both on Fuji TV) and “Lavit! (TBS), etc., were plunged into a crisis unprecedented in the history of television, with substitutes all over the place, including the MCs.

Why were the TV personalities infected one after another?

An investigation into the TV stations’ measures against corona revealed a rather shoddy situation.

A key station told us: “At the time of the …… outbreak, about 100 people were infected within the station, but it was never reported that a cluster had occurred. There is a bulletin board that only station employees can see, and news such as, ‘Zero staff members at Zero have been infected with corona,’ is uploaded on a daily basis. When I looked at the news, I found that the number of infected people exceeded 100 by simple calculation. However, when I looked at it by department, the number of infected people was less than 5, so it was determined that it was not a cluster.

In the spring of 2020, Yuta Tomikawa, 45, an announcer on “News Station” (TV Asahi), honestly confessed his corona infection and hospitalization, and he got hit pretty hard, didn’t he?　Since then, it seems that all stations have become reluctant to publicize their activities for fear of criticism. Before and after Anna Tomikawa, there were quite a few cases of infection at TV stations,” said a producer at a production company.

A mid-career broadcaster who works for several key stations said, “I think the reason there has been a string of infections is because the TV stations are so careless in their infection control measures. He said, “I am not a good person to be in the same situation as the others.

For example, there are automatic thermometers at the entrances, and some of them seem to display lower than normal body temperatures, so I have never seen anyone get caught. We also do individual daily temperature and physical condition checks, but only for employees and resident staff. Freelance broadcasters, interpreters, editors, and researchers like us are usually not checked. It’s pointless, isn’t it?

Of these, meetings are seen as the “source of infection.

Basically, there is no distance. When the camera was rolling, we kept a good distance, but before the program started, the staff and the talent were meeting at the same distance as before the corona. One time, it was the birthday of a female announcer who worked as a program assistant, and the staff prepared a cake, lit candles, whooped it up, and shared it with everyone. Frankly, I thought it was a disaster.

An unexpected blind spot is the acrylic board.

Acrylic panels and vinyl sheets are used throughout the station to protect the talent and staff from splashing. But I have never seen them cleaned. I’ve never even heard of them being cleaned. In the past, ADs were supposed to clean them, but with the reform of the work style, we can no longer have ADs do that kind of dirty work. …… The acrylic boards in the staff room may be left in place from April 2020, if I’m not mistaken.

Speaking of zusan, PCR testing with saliva when there is a person who has had a concentrated contact. Many staff members inadvertently submitted saliva after brushing their teeth or gargling,” said a producer from a production company.

This producer said, “There was a time when an executive at the station fell ill after a dinner and showed symptoms that were clearly suspicious of corona infection, but he took the day off under the guise of feeling sick or having gastroenteritis, saying, ‘If it turns out that he was infected, it would be hard to show inside and outside the station that he was infected. There were many cases of so-called “corona cover-ups,” he confided.

The drama cannot be broadcast with an understudy. It is no secret that as soon as a person becomes infected, filming is halted for two weeks and the broadcast schedule is thrown into disarray, as was the case in April when the first broadcast of the Fuji Television drama “Yangotte no Nakui Kazoku” starring Tsuchiya Tao (27) was postponed due to the outbreak of an infected person.

The first broadcast of “Yangotonnaki Ichizoku” starring Tsuchiya Tao, 27, was postponed due to the outbreak of an infected patient. The studio and equipment we had rented would have to be paid for, and we would have to re-arrange lunches and personnel. In order to avoid incurring heavy losses, the drama team took measures to prevent coronas, such as moving up the shooting schedule as much as possible, wearing masks during rehearsals for kissing scenes, and ending with only take 1 of the scene.

However, since intimate scenes are always a part of love stories, there are limits, aren’t there? In dramas with iconic quarrel scenes, viewers may ask, “Did you catch a droplet infection in that scene? The criticisms may be directed at the production side. Therefore, even if there is an infected person, we have to be creative, such as postponing the timing of the announcement in order not to damage the reputation of the celebrity.

The battle between the TV stations and the corona infection continues.