“The View,” “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” “Good Morning America,” “Strahan, Sara and Keke” and “Tamron Hall” have joined the list of shows that will be taping without a studio audience due to growing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
“Given the current developing situation in New York City, we have made the decision to suspend live audiences from attending our news broadcasts and talk shows,” a Walt Disney Television spokesperson told TheWrap in a statement Wednesday.
The episode of “Tamron Hall” that will air today, which includes a live audience, was filmed yesterday, an individual with knowledge tells TheWrap.
The Disney-produced programs that have cut their live-studio-audience components are far from the first programs to be affected by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
On Tuesday, “The Wendy Williams Show” announced it would be taping without audiences for the time being. The day before that, “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” producer Sony Pictures Television opted to end their inclusion of studio audiences until further notice.
Additionally, attendees of yesterday’s live portion of “The Bachelor” Season 24 finale were questioned by the show’s studio, Warner Bros TV, about their possible exposure to coronavirus.
A number of public events have been called off in recent days as the coronavirus cases in the U.S. continue to rise, with some health experts advising against public gatherings where the disease may be spread from person to person.
One of the first and biggest events to be affected by the coronavirus threat was the now-canceled South by Southwest festival in Austin, which was originally scheduled to take place March 13-22. Since SXSW was scrapped, other canceled/postponed events include political rallies, some TV networks’ upfront presentations, the Los Angeles Times’ annual Festival of Books, World of Wonder’s RuPaul’s DragCon, and the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals.