The testing regimes required to support film and TV production across Ontario have needed to be vast and flexible in order to weather the ebbs and flows of the pandemic.

While sets were mostly closed for the duration of the first wave, robust testing programs have been implemented to keep sets open during the second and third waves as Ontario has remained in a state of almost permanent lockdown since the turn of the year.

Since production returned in late summer and fall of 2020, Ontario has been at maximum capacity as big-budgeted U.S. shows have raced to get production up and running, in addition to a significant number of Canadian projects.

The rapid return of production created an equally large need for on-set testing services. And to meet the demand, companies involved in the health care space have pivoted their operations to begin offering mass testing to the screen sector.

It’s been a constantly evolving process, says Melody Adhami, CEO of FH Health, one of Ontario’s largest testing providers to the film and TV sector, as it works hand-in-hand with the industry to keep sets safe.

“It’s not a secret: it will happen on every set that a positive will be detected. It happens to us probably on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. But we have been doing this for almost eight months and we’ve not yet had an outbreak,” Adhami tells Playback Daily.

FH Health has pivoted its operations on a number of occasions over the past year. Initially, the company – which wasn’t involved with the screen sector until the pandemic – was using software that screened for things like high temperatures or symptoms. Soon, however, it became apparent that this type of testing wasn’t adequate in addressing asymptomatic spread in populations.

Eight months ago, in order to meeting the swelling demand for on-set testing, FH Health pivoted once again to begin offering mass testing services for Ontario-shot productions.

In the time since, it has worked on Netflix and Amazon series filmed in Toronto (Adhami says she is not at liberty to name specific projects), in addition to a variety of smaller-scale productions. A busy day, says Adhami, sees FH Health test around 500 people on a single film set, while an average day is around 100. Testing typically starts between 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. and FH Health can have up to 15 team members (some nurses, some testing managers) on site ensuring the process runs smoothly.

At any one time, FH Health provides testing services to around five large-scale shows (which typically require tests to be conducted three times weekly), and dozens of smaller projects, ranging from commercials to docs or three-day shoots.

Adhami says the biggest benefit of FH Health is that it can provide mass PCR testing (polymerase chain reaction testing), which allows the detection of pre-symptomatic individuals and those with low viral loads. According to Adhami, this has allowed FH Health to prevent outbreaks and help the screen sector stay up and running throughout the pandemic.

“It’s a proactive methodology rather than a reactive technology,” she says. “There are lots of clients who call us and tell us to come test their patients because they’ve had outbreaks. And, sure, by testing we can pull out the people who are positive, but at that point, you have 10 or 15 people in your population [who have been exposed to a positive case] and you’re a bit more far gone. The proactive methodology works much better.”

“A positive is never good for anybody. Not good for us, or for the producers. It’s one of those situations where it’s all hands on deck. There’s massive communication between us and the producers and the COVID teams on set,” adds Adhami.

While the rollout of the vaccine in Ontario has moved into higher gear in recent weeks, Adhami says the third wave has unquestionably been FH Health’s busiest period, due to the more easily transmissible variants that have taken hold in the province.

“[The past month] has been the highest volume of testing that we’ve done. Based on the volumes of testing that’s currently required, it’s very clear that we are in wave three,” she says.

And while the third wave continues to cause problems, Adhami says FH Health hasn’t had an outbreak on one of its sets since it started providing services to the screen sector. That, she hopes, will continue to be the case as the industry navigates the latter stages of the pandemic.

“I often joke that movie sets are the safest places in the city,” she says.