Actor Richard Burgi has been fired from “The Young and the Restless” after breaking COVID-19 protocols set in place by the show, according to Variety.
Burgi, who plays Ashland Locke in the CBS soap opera, first announced that he was being fired in a live post on Instagram on Jan. 11. In the video, Burgi, 63, said he “naively and inadvertently violated the show’s COVID policy.”
According to the actor, he tested positive for COVID-19 during the holidays. He said he followed the Centers of Disease Control guidelines and waited five days and produced two negative tests before returning to set. However, according to Burgi, the show’s guidelines say anyone who tests positive must wait 10 days before returning.
“I felt terrible about it,” Burgi said on Instagram. “I still do. It bothers me mightily but it is what it is. I respect whatever the show’s decision is. They’re doing the best they can, as we all are.”
On Dec. 27, the CDC cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus, from 10 days to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine.
CDC officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop.
The decision was also driven by a recent surge in COVID-19 cases, propelled by the omicron variant.
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