General Hospital canceled its return to production after the holiday season thanks to the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in both California and the nation. This news comes after two starts just tested positive for COVID.
COVID Affects General Hospital…Again
Both Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones) and Kelly Thiebaud (Britt Westbourne) both announced via social media that they had COVID, but they were also doing fine, likely because each woman is vaccinated via the ABC/Disney vaccine mandate that cost Ingo Rademacher (Jasper ‘Jax’ Jacks) and Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) their jobs. In fact, the last time a GH performer announced they had COVID, it was Burton and the show had to shut down production and then quickly play catch up.
The last time a rise in COVID cases forced a production shutdown was when the pandemic began. What was supposed to be two weeks lasted months, but General Hospital was the only soap to pad what it already had in the can with flashbacks so first-run episodes could last longer. After first-run shows ran out, GH gave fans theme weeks with encore episodes.
Other ABC Productions Also Shut Down
General Hospital isn’t the only show halting production. Grey’s Anatomy, which tapes right next to GH will be pausing work, as will Station 19 and The Rookie. This is better news than when GH and other Hollywood productions shut down the first time, as we now have vaccines and treatments for COVID, as well as safety protocols on the set that movies and television shows have to adhere to per California mandates. This wave is also not expected to last several months and instead should be over by February.
Will GH have to play catch up on production and pad episodes again so we don’t have to see re-runs or will we be getting more encore episodes than were originally scheduled this year?
If GH does have to go to re-runs, let’s hope it doesn’t leave off by letting us know a character is pregnant with one of the most hated character’s children, with that pregnancy then lasting more than a year. And hopefully, the baby switch that resulted from that pregnancy wraps up soon. Stay tuned to General Hospital weekdays to find out.
View Comments (5)
This is very sad that you have to shut production down that means you will loose out
ABC Thank you very much for caring for your Crew and Actors. All real fans will be here when you can come back. Stay well! See you soon!
I absolutely love Soaps especiallY GH..Have been listing and watching soaps for 70 yrs...I love all the updates here...But ..what I don't like is the Political stuff..I was Born in 1944 my mom was 18..so was my Dad...he was in the Pacific as a Navy Corpsman... He also served in Korea and Vietnam... He was a Republican...I was for a while ..but never again..why is political "crap" on a Soap.PAGE...You do not want to hear my Opinion on THE FORMER WHATS. HIS NAME WHO IS A TRAITER AND WANNA BE FACIST.HE THINK HE IS BE BUT TOO STUPID...PLEASE STICK TO SOAPS...THEY ARE pretend and dont hurt anyone..the are funny sad..kind and not so kind bad guys..excellent writing...AND YOU GET A BREAK FROM THE MESS OUR BELOVED COUNTRY.IS IN.A COUNTRY FOUGHT FOR BY..YOUNG MEN AND NOT SO YOUNG..YOUNG MEN AND WOME TOO...
I agree with you 100%. You are my kind of person! God Bless America!
Just goes without saying the vaccine doesn’t keep you from getting Covid. Now maybe Nancy Lee Grahn will stop her unnecessary and untruthful ranting about how happy she is going to a safe workplace. What a joke she is.