SAG-AFTRA Covid Protection Rules Should Remain in Place
Mark A. Rothstein
Julia Irzyk
We served as informal consultants on public health and employment law for the National
Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) Covid
Legal Team. We believe that the carefully considered policies adopted by SAG-AFTRA
prevented the spread of Covid and helped protect the health of SAG-AFTRA members and their
loved ones. We are concerned that the premature abandonment of these policies would create
serious risks to employees in the entertainment industry, especially those at high risk of severe
Covid infections, such as immunocompromised individuals.
The federal government’s announcement that it is ending the public health emergency
declaration on May 11, 2023, does not mean that Covid is no longer a serious health threat. It
simply means that certain government programs legally conditioned on a declaration of
emergency will no longer be in effect, including expanded Medicaid coverage and federal
payment for Covid vaccinations, testing, and treatment.
The numbers of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths from Covid have decreased
substantially, but they are far from zero. There are still approximately 350 deaths each day from
Covid in the United States. Certain parts of the country remain high transmission zones. In
addition, long Covid continues to cause disabling symptoms for many people weeks or months
after their initial recovery.
For people whose immune systems are weakened by cancer, HIV, chemotherapy, organ
transplantation, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or other diseases, exposure to
Covid means a much higher risk of hospitalization or death. The increased risk also extends to
high-risk family members and close contacts of any exposed individuals.
One of the most contentious aspects of the response to Covid has been vaccination. The
two most widely used vaccines in the U.S., made by Pfizer and Moderna, are based on
technologies that were researched over decades and tested on thousands of people, even though
their FDA authorization and distribution was expedited during the pandemic. Worldwide,
hundreds of millions of doses of these vaccines have been delivered, and they have proven to be
extraordinarily safe and effective.
The vaccines are designed to prevent serious illness and death, and they have saved at
least hundreds of thousands of lives in the U.S. and remain effective against new variants of the
virus. The vaccines also decrease the likelihood of infection and thus the risk of transmission to
others. Because the protection afforded by vaccination declines over time, it is essential to get
recommended boosters. Yet only 16 percent of Americans are fully boosted.
Many workers in various industries have asserted religious or medical objections to
vaccination. Although all major religions in the U.S. have endorsed Covid vaccination,
individuals demonstrating a sincerely held religious objection to vaccination are entitled to
“reasonable accommodation” under federal and state civil rights laws. Similarly, individuals with
rare medical conditions, including those listed on the CDC website, that are aggravated by
vaccination also are entitled to reasonable accommodation. Such accommodations could include
remote work, outdoor work, social distancing, or use of a mask in lieu of vaccination. Because
these measures would be impractical or impossible for actors or other workers in industries
where close contact without masking is necessary, typical accommodations would create an
“undue hardship” for the employer. In such cases, permitting unvaccinated workers to continue
their regular duties is not legally required or prudent.
Some employers and employees, including in the entertainment industry, assert that
vaccination is unnecessary if there is Covid testing, including testing the day before or day of
work. But testing is not a substitute for vaccination. CDC recommends that asymptomatic
individuals who may have been exposed wait at least five full days before testing. Any testing
before then could give a false negative result. That means that someone could become infected
and test negative despite being able to infect others.
We fervently hope that the Covid situation will continue to improve, and it will be safe
for all of us to resume our pre-pandemic lifestyles, but we are not there yet. Because it is not
advisable to have unvaccinated actors working in proximity on a movie set or comparable
environment where the community level of infection is high, the SAG-AFTRA rules should
remain in place until conditions improve.
We applaud the leadership of SAG-AFTRA on this issue and encourage it to continue
protecting the health of immunocompromised and other high risk SAG-AFTRA members and
their loved ones. Now is not the time to abandon essential and effective public health measures.
Mark A. Rothstein, J.D., is the Herbert F. Boehl Chair of Law and Medicine Emeritus at
the University of Louisville.
Julia Irzyk, J.D., is a SAG-AFTRA franchised agent and owner of The Library Agency in
Sherman Oaks, California.
Prof Mark Rothstein Covid & Bivalent Boosters Talk 10-17-2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptasdX1hh-4&t=354s
Prof. Mark Rothstein LA County Mask Mandate and Monkeypox update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjs6qHhn6dg&t=769s
Prof Mark Rothstein Covid Vaccine Info
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrOGhgt0KzE&t=39s