Crossword

ACROSS

1 What a regular often orders, with “the”

6 First of a cereal box trio

10 Box score

number 14 See 5-Down 15 Dorothy’s dog 16 Distinctive vibe

17 Sauce with basil

18 Like many cars sold online 19 “Jurassic Park” predator 20 Youngster, metaphorically 23 Antlered Yellowstone beast

24 Lao Tzu’s

“way” 25 __City: computer game

28 Stick a stake in, asa vampire 32 Dry-eyes

solution 34 Manual filing

target? 35 Toddler’s monster deterrent 39 Brings on

board

41 Luau

neckwear 42 He played Grant on “Lou Grant” 43 Morning

awakener 46 Poi source 47 One of four in

five 48 Theater

walkways 50 Before, in

poems

51 “__

Misérables” 53 Hesitant

utterances 54 Behind-thescenes money source ... and a hint to the start of 20-, 35- and 43-Across 61 Elton or Lennon 63 Boxer’s

foursome 64 Garlicky mayo 65 CNN anchor

Burnett 66 Great Lake with the shortest name

67 King of rock ’n’

roll 68 Spinning toys 69 Apt word found in “accident” 70 Tenant’s

contract

DOWN

1 Officials calling strikes 2 Trickle

3 Cold War initials

4 Italian wine region

5 With 14-Across, soccer’s GOAT, to many 6 Experiencing writer’s block, say

7 Light snack 8 Bit the dust 9 Online talk

show

10 Fill until full 11 Car’s blinker 12 “Roses __ red

... ”

13 Collectors’ item? 21 Secluded valley 22 Eucalyptus

eater 26 Response from the next room

27 Urban transit

systems 28 Take a breath 29 “The Naked and the

Dead” author Norman 30 Hook’s vessel 31 Wide awake 33 Grocery shoppers’ aids

36 Sick

37 Cable TV’s

Nat __ Wild 38 Hyphenated fruit drink brand 40 Incensesensing sense 44 Scared, with

“out” 45 Hindu god

of desire 49 Tel Aviv’s

land

52 Drum type 53 Underdog’s

victory 55 Roadside

lodgings 56 Mary-Kate, to

Ashley 57 Mah-jongg

piece

58 PBS science

series

59 Yale students 60 Heed a bailiff’s order

61 Hot tub

feature 62 Spanish

gold

Almost a year after COVID-19 shut down offices across America, many physical workplaces remain in stasis. But six months ago, Demerie Danielson was hired to help bring at least one sector back to working in person: the film industry.

Danielson, a registered nurse, left her job at an Albuquerque, New Mexico, hospital for a brandnew position: COVID-19 compliance officer for VIP StarNetwork, a health care contractor for major local movie and TV sets. It’s a subsidiary of Inverse Medical, a medical equipment supplier.

With her medical expertise in her back pocket, Danielson learned how to safely reopen a workplace on the fly — and has since done so for seven Netflix and Amazon Prime productions, including the upcoming film “The Harder They Fall,” starring Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba.

Her experience could prove crucial for America’s business owners, especially those pondering their own return to the office amid the country’s vaccine rollout.

Here are Danielson’s top four recommendations.

Tailor your solutions to your company’s specific needs.

There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution here, Danielson says. Each of her productions have different COVID-19 plans, customized to the number of people involved and the types of locations being used. As New Mexico’s coronavirus guidance shifts month to month, she adjusts each film set accordingly — such as modulating the amount of sanitization on touch points like doorknobs as local cases have risen and fallen.

Start by gauging the risk, particularly around air circulation and ability to socially distance. Then build protocols around personal protective equipment, COVID19 testing and surface sanitization. When in doubt, Danielson says, refer to your state’s or city’s local COVID-19 guidance. “We’re always going to want to make sure we have the proper filtration of air flow if we’re inside of a building,” she says. “We’re going to always make sure we’re keeping people socially distanced.” But employees should know that your policies could shift at a moment’s notice.

Prioritize quick-turnaround COVID-19 testing.

As vaccines are still sparsely available, your testing protocol could make or break your return to the office. Danielson typically divides workers into two categories: people who interact regularly with each other and people who only visit in-person occasionally. Infrequent visitors need two consecutive negative tests before they show up to work, while regulars get tested every single day — sometimes multiple times per day. The daily testing only works because VIP StarNetwork’s labs can turn around test results in a matter of hours. Even a 24-hour turnaround, Danielson says, wouldn’t be fast enough. Contracting with a private lab to achieve that goal is a potentially expensive proposition: Johonniuss Chemweno, CEO of both VIP StarNetwork and Inverse Medical, says his company typically spends 5% to 20% of a film’s overall budget on COVID-19 safety. One of Danielson’s recent projects, Zack Snyder’s upcoming Netflix movie “Army of the Dead,” has an estimated budget of $70 million.

Still, Danielson stresses that until you can afford to build a truly rigorous same-day testing program, you simply can’t risk bringing your workers back on a daily basis. “If you don’t have the opportunity to get your results in a matter of hours, you could possibly expose all the people within your business and have to shut them down,” she says. “Shutting your business back down for days or weeks again is costly.”

Plan for rule breakers.

Most employees will probably be just as dedicated as you are to staying safe and healthy, particularly if their ability to work depends on it. Some, however, could push the boundaries on mask-wearing or testing policies, and you need an advance plan to deal with them.

Danielson says that most protocol violations she’s seen come from a place of habit — people accidentally behaving like they did pre-pandemic — so she rarely reacts angrily. Rather, she works to gain the offender’s trust through honesty and education, explaining why the policies exist and how they connect to local positivity rates. Repeat offenders get sent home, as they’ve become health hazards for everyone else.

“You don’t really get to say no,” Danielson says. “You’re going to have to do it if you want to work.”

Stay strict, even as vaccines roll out.

It’ll be tempting to relax standards for vaccinated employees, especially as vaccines become more available to the general public this year. Not so fast, Danielson says. Until more is known about how well the vaccines are working, particularly against multiple new and highly contagious virus strains, you’ll need to stay vigilant.