It's been about a month now that i've been officially back in the working world.
I must say as much as I love being back at work a part of me longs for the lazy mornings and staying in my pyjamas til noon. But saying that..there is something to be said for the routine of getting up and going to work, not to mention earning money..that's always handy if you want to eat. And I do.
So i'm officially on a show until March all being well and everybody washes their hands, doesn't cough on anyone else and keeps 2 metres apart.
The social distancing is the one that i'm noticing is the most difficult for all the departments, sometimes you have to work in pairs to get a job done, whether you are a makeup artist or a grip. The reality is, sometimes its challenging to keep your distance. For myself i'm consciously aware at all times who is creeping into my personal space.
The crew has been split into 2 zones this helps with contact tracing. My zone, the zone that is interacting with cast and who have to be on set are getting our tests 3 times a week. Everyone else is twice a week. That's a lot of testing, 5 days of testing to be exact. I can't help but think about the impact on our environment from all these disposable plastics, gloves, packaging, swabs. It all adds up over time. Theres around 20,000-32,000 tests being done per week in Vancouver. Think about that.
Is there a way we can get tested without there being such a dramatic footprint? I'm no expert in this stuff but i'm hoping that in time there becomes a greener way we can get this testing done. When I look over and see a garbage can full of medical supplies it makes me feel a little sick inside.
And lets also address the issue of Lifelabs being overwhelmed with processing the test results. Like many other shows last week we were forced to pause production because our results had not come back in. What are the options here? Tests are to go over the border to be processed? Not many people are thrilled with that idea. There's talk of a rapid testing machine making its way into Canada pretty soon. Results in minutes could be the answer? Who knows, all we know is this process is a huge learning curve and each day we are figuring out ways to do things better. We just have to be patient.
