7 Motion Picture & Television Fund Nursing Home Residents Diagnosed With Coronavirus
Seven residents of the Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) Nursing Home have been diagnosed with coronavirus, TheWrap has confirmed. The retirement community in Woodland Hills, Calif. is home to 200-plus industry veterans, including movie directors and Broadway performers.
“The good news is that they’re all stable,” Bob Beitcher, MPTF president and CEO, told Deadline. “They’re alert and feisty, so with any luck, they’ll have mild cases and they’ll all get better.”
Half of the cases that tested positive (the first case was reported on Tuesday) are in their 90s and all are residents of either the Mary Pickford House — the campus’ long-term care facility — or Harry’s Haven, the Alzheimer’s unit. The residents are indeed feisty and quite spirited because they don’t have a television where they’re currently quarantined. “They’re p—-d off because they’re in a wing that doesn’t have television,” Beitcher told TheWrap. “Where’s the f—ing television? So that’s the good news.”
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None of the facility’s staff and care-givers has tested positive, added Beitcher, and the facility has been on lockdown since March 6. Additionally, to prevent the outbreak, the MPTF took measures early on, including restrictions on visits from family members. Communal gatherings, including residential meals and movie screenings were also banned. Individuals entering the campus, including all employees, are scanned thermally on a daily basis.
The MPTF was created by Hollywood luminaries such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith as a program to help those in the industry who didn’t know where their next paycheck would come from. According to the MPTF website, it all started with a simple coin box where entertainment workers could deposit change for fellow colleagues.
Deadline first reported the news.
Read original story 7 Motion Picture & Television Fund Nursing Home Residents Diagnosed With Coronavirus At TheWrap
