I’m actually surprised this didn’t happen sooner: The cast of The Eternals was exposed to Covid — rumor has it the positive case is someone who worked in proximity to them for press events and/or Monday night’s premiere — and that sent Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Lauren Ridloff, and Salma Hayek straight to quarantine without passing Go (leaving only four of the eight cover stars in attendance). Hopefully nobody else will turn up positive and/or will sail through without complications. What a thing. Thank God they caught it before they attended this. Rita Moreno is 89! Build her a bubble, please.
Anecdotally, the indoor vaccine requirement for gatherings doesn’t begin in Los Angeles until Nov. 4. So the requirement for attending The Eternals was proof of full vaccination or a negative PCR test from within 48 hours, and for this Elle event it was vax proof and a negative PCR test from that same time period. It doesn’t mean the person who tested positive amidst the Eternals gang was unvaccinated, of course; Covid is, like the spiders that keep building cobwebs near my fireplace, a sneaky, vicious beast that’s just not going to make any of this easy. It’s interesting logistical intel, though, and it makes me wonder how many other events are choosing between “or” and “and.” You’d think a big premiere would be more stringent, because of how freaking many people have to be there (crew, caterers, photographers, in addition to guests)? But perhaps that need for staff led to them relaxing the standard? I don’t know. But I imagine there are some nervous event planners around the city right now, hoping like hell this is a one-off.
