How Melissa Gilbert and Timothy Busfield Dealt With Their First COVID-19 Scare
Little House on the Prairie alum Melissa Gilbert and husband thirtysomething actor Timothy Busfield rode out the COVID-19 pandemic in a small cabin in the Catskills (where they still live today). When Busfield got his first acting job following March 2020, the couple faced their first COVID scare. Here’s what happened.
Back to work with COVID safety protocols
Busfield had been cast in For Life before the pandemic. It was one of the first shows to begin production again amid the virus. Gilbert wrote about her husband’s return to work in her 2022 memoir, Back to the Prairie.
“Tim had been on several Zooms regarding safety protocols and received numerous emails updating procedures,” she wrote. “Everybody got tested. Their temperatures were taken. The crew was masked and shielded. Each set was sterilized overnight and then sealed. If the seal was broken before production the next day, they were going to cancel that day’s work on that particular set. The actors didn’t have to be on set all day every day, so in terms of exposure they had it easier than the crew, who were there all day.”
Hours were much shorter than typical because the production did away with rehearsal. Everything was shot on the fly to minimize exposure time.
“The actors had to be ready,” wrote Gilbert. “There wasn’t a lot of fumbling around and figuring out nuances. What struck me more than anything was the testing. Until then, Tim and I had not had any reason to get tested. We had been masked, distanced, and washing our hands as if participating in a nationwide competition for the cleanest hands in the USA. We redefined MAGA- Make America Germ-free Again. But Tim got tested two days before he went on set and again every day before shooting, as did everyone involved in the show.”
A nurse was hired full-time to give out tests to the cast and crew. A contact tracing system was put in place.
‘For Life’ shut down after tests came back positive
About two weeks into filming, Busfield received a call letting him know the show was shutting down because a few people tested positive. He was not told who due to HIPAA rules, so the couple awaited a contact tracing phone call to let them know if Busfield had been exposed. Later, they learned that the people who had initially tested positive all tested negative upon taking second tests, which may suggest the first tests were false positives. Still, the set remained closed.
Days later, Busfield’s phone did indeed ring. He had come in contact with one of the people who’d originally tested positive for COVID.
While the couple tried to remain calm and positive, they couldn’t help but let their minds occasionally wander to worst-case scenarios.
“Every time Tim or I sniffled, sneezed, felt out of sorts, had a spasm of indigestion, suffered a moment of congestion, or thought we weren’t tasting our food properly, we assumed the worst -COVID!” wrote Gilbert. “A very strange state of being for two non-alarmist, non-hypochondriacal people. We were always able to quickly talk ourselves off the cliff. Occasionally we even laughed at ourselves. Paranoia itself was an insidious virus.”
Busfield’s COVID test
During this time, Busfield came down with a stomach virus. Stomach upset was on the list of COVID symptoms at the time, so the actor decided to get tested.
At this point, the former Laura Ingalls actor and Busfield were “very worried.”
“We talked about whether he should come back to the Cabbage [what the couple call their home in the Catskills—a combination of ‘cabin’ and ‘cottage’] or go stay away from me in the apartment,” she wrote. “I was shaking uncontrollably and on the verge of tears as we discussed the logistics of what a positive result would mean. Then Timmy said, ‘I need to check my will. Make sure it’s completely up to date.’ That sentence pushed me over the edge. With tears now pouring down my cheeks I said, ‘Baby, let’s cross that bridge if and only if we get to it, please.’ He arrived at the testing place and before we hung up I said, ‘We will deal with this, whatever it is, and we will be okay. I love you.’”
Both their minds raced while they waited for results. But twenty minutes later, the results were in and the test came back negative.
“My heart ached for those dealing with this horrible virus in a new and deeper way,” wrote Gilbert. “Our brush with the possibility of COVID-19 had made us even more sensitive to the plight of those facing it every day.”
