WWE resumed tapings for Raw and NXT at the WWE Performance Center on Wednesday, sources confirmed to ESPN. Earlier this week, the company announced that a developmental talent had tested positive for the coronavirus and canceled Tuesday’s scheduled tapings as a result.
In a statement provided by WWE on Monday, Dr. Jeffrey Dugas, WWE’s associate medical director, stated that “all talent, production crew and employees on site at the training and production facilities will be tested for COVID-19.” Sources say that those tests have been completed and that all those in attendance Wednesday have been cleared to participate.
ESPN has been unable to confirm with WWE whether any additional precautions have been put in place as a result of the positive test.
The individual who tested positive was at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, on June 9 as a member of the audience during tapings of a WWE show. That individual has not been at the center since then, WWE said.
“Since that time, no other individuals that attended the facility have reported symptoms,” Dugas said Monday.
All of WWE’s pay-per-view and flagship shows — Raw, SmackDown and NXT — have been held at the Performance Center since mid-March. The company was operating without a crowd from March 13 until May 25, when it began to use trainees and NXT personnel as an audience. Barriers were installed with the intent of separating the talent from the audience, but there have been times over the past few weeks when the groups commingled.
According to a WWE statement Tuesday, there were also non-WWE-affiliated “fans” in the crowd.
“Yesterday, a select number of friends and family were permitted to attend WWE’s TV production,” WWE said. “These individuals were required to participate in medical screenings prior to entering the closed set at our training facility, and were kept apart from in-ring performers and production personnel. Attendance was below 20% capacity and social distancing guidelines were adhered to with at least six feet between parties, thus face masks were not required.”
As taping resumes, there has not been any update on additional fans in attendance.
This is WWE’s second publicly confirmed case of the coronavirus. According to a WWE statement, the first case was an individual becoming symptomatic “in the days following exposure to two people working in acute health care on the evening of March 26.” That individual did not have contact with any other WWE employee, according to that WWE statement.
Florida considers WWE an essential business, which has allowed it to operate throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The UFC has also recently held events in the state.
Credit: Source link