LA County says Emmys didn’t violate COVID-19 rules after criticism

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Tuesday said the Emmy awards ceremony was compliant with COVID-19 mandates, despite concerns voiced by some who attended Sunday night’s event.

“LA County’s Health Officer order requires everyone to wear a mask indoors, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated. However, exceptions are made for film, television, and music productions, as additional safety modifications are made for these controlled interactions,” the department said in a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times.

“The Emmy Award Show is a television production, and persons appearing on the show are considered performers. All persons appearing on or in the audience of the Emmy Award Show were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Also, Public Health was informed that each of these persons had a verified negative PCR test 48 hours prior to the show,” the health department added.

The Television Academy’s coronavirus requirements for the ceremony included proof of vaccination as well as a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 test. Instead of being held in a theater like in years past, the ceremony was held in an air-conditioned tent.

“The Emmys reached out to Public Health in advance to share their safety protocols, which exceeded the baseline requirements for television and film productions,” the health department said. “Public Health will continue [to] review the protocols of future large television production events and prescribe additional safety modifications to mitigate risk of COVID-19 transmission.”

While presenting the first award of the evening, actor and comedian Seth Rogen appeared to question the safety of the ceremony, pointing to the large crowd of unmasked people who had gathered in the tent for the evening.

“Let me start by saying there is way too many of us in this little room. What are we doing? They said this was outdoors. It’s not. They lied to us. We’re in a hermetically sealed tent right now. I would not have come to this,” Rogen said, humorously questioning whether it was “more important that we have three chandeliers than that we make sure we don’t kill Eugene Levy tonight?”