With people around the world staying indoors amid the coronavirus outbreak, one of the biggest porn sites took the opportunity to offer their premium package for free to those in virus-stricken Italiy.
It, however, seems the pandemic has affected the porn business too, as a leading trade group has called for a voluntary two-week halt to the production of new adult films that could generate lesser traffic for websites across North America.
The advisory came from the Free Speech Coalition (FSC), a non-profit trade association of pornography and adult entertainment industry in the United States after the federal agency, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention advised people nationwide to cancel or postpone gatherings of more than 50 people.
“We ask that producers cancel all shoots through March 31, and recommend that performers immediately stop filming with partners who are not a part of their household", the FSC said in a statement.
The call to shut down affects roughly 2,000 performers and a majority of porn production companies in North America that use the FSC’s PASS testing system, which screens for sexually transmitted infections, FSC communications director Mike Stabile told BuzzFeed News.
“While we are calling for an immediate halt to production, we do not want to compound the situation by removing a critical tool for safeguarding the health of our community", said the statement.
Performers are required to take a panel of STI tests every two weeks and are not cleared for work if they test positive or fail to take the test. As per reports, some production companies have already decided to suspend operations.
The coronavirus outbreak, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and was recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has infected over 182,000 people in over 100 countries, with more than 7,100 deaths and almost 80,000 recoveries.
The pandemic has prompted many counties around the world to declare national emergencies, ramp up border controls, and shut down public gatherings.
