Six More Motion Picture Retirement Home Residents Test Positive for Coronavirus

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Six additional elderly residents at the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s skilled nursing facility in suburban Los Angeles have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total to seven.

The MPTF reported the first case on Tuesday . About 250 entertainment industry retirees live on the MPTF’s Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills, Calif. All seven are residents of either the Mary Pickford House long-term care facility or Harry’s Haven, its Alzheimer’s unit.

A spokesperson for the MPTF said Friday that all seven are in stable condition. The first resident who tested positive was taken to West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles last week, according to Bob Beitcher, MPTF president and chief executive officer.

Beithcer told Variety that the other six residents are in an isolation wing at the MPTF that was set up specifically for this purpose.

None of the facility’s staff and caregivers have tested positive for the coronavirus. The facilities have been on lockdown since March 6. The MPTF has restricted visits from family members and banned communal gatherings, including residential meals and movie screenings. All individuals entering the campus are scanned thermally on a daily basis.

As of noon PDT on Friday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported that there were 4,566 cases of the coronavirus and 89 deaths in the county.

The MPTF was created in 1921 by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, Conrad Nagel, Milton Sills and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., to offer assistance and care to those of limited means in the motion picture industry.