It was a magnificent movie weekend. Barbie, Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom. All hits, a blow-out! So what else have you got? The question sounds obnoxious, like its near-cousin, the always infuriating: “What have you done for me lately?” But it’s an honest query, and an important one for a strike-bound, streaming-bent, pandemic-emergent industry that is
Lockdown
Comedy is back; Super Mario Bros has proved that laughs are good for a half billion dollars. The antihero business is intact. Both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and John Wick: Chapter 4 hit their marks. But affairs of the heart are still suffering at the movie box office. Love Again is the latest
Can we finally talk about movies for a minute? I mean, those of us who aren’t full-blown, always on-it awards professionals. The Republicans have had their Speakership brawl. The Democrats have observed their J6 vigil. The Twitter Wars have settled into the usual trench exchange between Left and Right. And the weary nation having survived
Dr. Anthony Fauci, 81, did a media triathlon of sorts this morning, appearing on Fox News, CNN and NPR to talk about his announcement yesterday that he would retire in December as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and also Chief Medical Advisor to the president. He was also on MSNBC
UPDATED: Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said today that the county is still seeing declines in all of its major Covid metrics, including slowing case numbers and stabilizing hospitalizations and deaths. She says given the improvements, “we may be positioned to pause the implementation of universal masking,” which is due on Friday.
Residents of the vast majority of California’s 58 counties should be wearing masks, according to the CDC. That’s because 40 of those counties are now designated communities with “High” Covid levels. Less than one month ago, the number was 13. The decision to return to mandated face coverings is not up to the CDC, however,
Ahead of the July 4 weekend, Los Angeles County today reported 6,529 daily Covid infections, which is very nearly the highest total the county has seen since early February. Only the 7,209 recorded on May 31 is higher. L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said earlier this week that daily infection numbers may be
Under current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, 13 of California’s 58 counties moved today into “high” levels of Covid and are supposed to require masks in indoor public spaces. They include some of the state’s most populous counties, like Santa Clara and Sacramento as well as some of its smallest, like Del Norte
Estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today indicate that the share of cases tied to Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 increased 79% in the past week. That means, even as the more transmissible BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant became officially dominant in the U.S. last week, it’s already being pushed out by newcomers
It’s a bizarre world, this (almost, more-or-less, maybe) post-Covid movie landscape. Pieces are falling into place: Production starts have been up for a year, box-office revenue continues to climb, though it’s still a long reach to pre-Covid highs. But so much is so different, and I don’t mean just the obvious shift toward streaming. Look
There’s a growing chorus from public health officials being heard across the country this week, and it consists of one just word: “Masks.” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer on a Zoom with reporters today recommended, “Everyone two years of age and older should wear a mask in indoor gatherings and indoor settings
As the United States careens closer to an official tally of 1 million lives lost to Covid-19, the World Health Organization this morning provided Deadline and other outlets with a detailed estimate of the “full death toll” that can be attributed either directly or indirectly to Covid-19 worldwide. Called “excess mortality,” the number is calculated
On November 9, 2021, the first case of a new Covid variant was detected in South Africa. On November 26, with cases rising across that country, the World Health Organization declared it a “variant of concern,” noting a likely increased transmissibility. They called it Omicron. By December 1, the first cases were found in the
Covid test positivity in California is up 47.6% in the past week, according to the California State data dashboard. One week ago, the 7-day daily test positivity rate was 2.1%. Today, it sits at 3.1%. That’s quite a jump for a metric that is averaged over seven days to account for daily fluctuations in data
Los Angeles County reported 1,355 new Covid cases on Friday, continuing an upward trend that began about a week ago as the more-infectious BA.2 subvariant continues to spread. Last week, the 7-day average daily number of new cases in the county was 878. By yesterday, the county was averaging more than 1,000 new Covid cases
A new state study suggests the number of people in Los Angeles County who have been infected with Covid-19 during the pandemic is far greater than the number confirmed through standard testing. That’s due largely to the number of people who never developed symptoms and so never got tested, or who couldn’t access tests, L.A.
“We have all come to understand what was not understood at the beginning of this crisis: that there is no end date, that there is not a moment where we declare victory,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday as he announced the state’s plan for the next phase of Covid. “Today is about turning a
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
Less than a week after a photo surfaced of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Magic Johnson maskless at SoFi Stadium, County Supervisor Katheryn Barger has ratcheted up the pressure on health officials to modify L.A.’s strict mask mandate for outdoor mega-events before the Super Bowl kicks off there on February 13. After the mayor
On Saturday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 72 new deaths from Covid-19, along with 39,117 new positive cases. The number of deaths and confirmed cases reported today may reflect delays in weekend reporting. But today’s tallies bring the County to a total of 28,417 deaths and 2,467,797 positive cases. There have
On Saturday, Los Angeles County passed the milestone of 28,000 Covid-related deaths, reporting 66 new deaths, as well as 41,765 new positive cases. Today’s death count is the highest the Department of Public Health has reported in a single day since April 2, 2021, with daily deaths having increased fourfold in the course of the
Like much of the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers’ lineup was ravaged by Covid in December. Over the course of the month, more than half of the team’s players cycled through the NBA health and safety protocols. At one point, five members of the team’s now 17-man roster were out at once. Coach Frank Vogel,
California Governor Gavin Newsom today announced he has activated the California National Guard to support local communities with additional testing facilities and capacity amid the surge in Covid cases driven by the Omicron variant. The state’s National Guard plan will deploy over 200 Cal Guard members across 50 Optum Serve sites around California, providing interim
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Monday shortened the recommended isolation and quarantine guidelines for Americans who contract or are exposed to Covid-19 from 10 to five days. The move drew swift criticism from many experts, who questioned the logic behind the decision. “I don’t think there’s any big change in science that justifies
The Delta and Omicron variants were driving a “dual surge” in Covid-related infections in Los Angeles today, according to health officials. That led to the county reporting 16,510 new cases in the past 24 hours, up 91% over the course of one week. It’s the highest daily case count since January 6 of this year,
“Today…we make history in New York City. We lead the nation with the strongest vaccine mandate anywhere —- private sector vaccine mandate — reaching hundreds of thousands of businesses,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday. The mandate, which takes effect today, applies to all “workers in New York City who perform in-person work or
Los Angeles County reported 7,425 new cases of Covid and nine additional deaths on Monday. But those numbers were artificially low due to reporting delays from the holiday weekend. The region’s test positivity rate — which is considered a more accurate indication of infection spread because it is an average and also a percentage, rather
After a week of rising Covid cases in Los Angeles, the county’s daily count of new infections hit a high not seen in nearly a year. On Christmas Eve the region reported 9,988 new cases. The last time it saw a daily new cases count that high was mid-January 2021. On Tuesday of this week,
“Fifty percent of all of the sequenced genomes identify themselves as Omicron,” said California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday. He was speaking of the positive Covid tests and wastewater in the state that have been examined for new cases of the variant. Newsom then hinted that numbers to be released today would be even higher.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that the state had recorded nearly 11,000 new cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours. That marks a 100% increase from the daily number of 5,400 new cases recorded just one week ago. The actual count, according to the state’s Covid data dashboard, was 10,903. Newsom also announced