Coronavirus When Will Disneyland Reopen

That is the million or billion dollar question for hordes of Southern California Magic Castle fans. It is also one of the questions of the 28,000 Disney employees that were recently laid off.

According to CNET, Governor Newsome said Disneyland and similar large theme parks can only open once their county reaches the yellow tier of infections. This means that no more than 1 new case of covid per 100,000 people living in that county. Currently, Orange County is in the red tier at 4.6 new cases per 100,000 people. Once Orange Country reaches that yellow level, then Disneyland can reopen, but park capacity will be capped at 25%.

Disney forcefully rejected that notion. All of their theme parks around the world are open from China to Paris to Florida. Only California remains closed.

The Governor's fear is that large theme parks with tens of thousands of visitors would act like super spreader locations like the week-long 365,000-person Sturgis Motorcycle Rally last August that did spread infections across the US.

So what happened when Walt Disney World (WDW) opened in July?

According to Eric Clinton president of one of the unions for cast members as reported by CinemaBlend, said very few if any cast members have had a work-related coronavirus infection at WDW since the reopening. 

Attendance is down due to limits on attendance. However, the Orlando Sentinel said on a recent day 19,000 people visited WDW down from a typical 60,000. Still 19,000 tourists plus cast members are a lot of people all in one place together. 

WDW has instituted a number of wellness measures including temperature screenings, wearing masks, enforcing social distancing, and limiting capacity. Fireworks, parades, and other activities have been curtailed. 

Those few commonsense safety changes seem to be keeping coronavirus in check. It all goes back to wearing a mask, social distancing, and sanitizing. The rule of 3  once again appears to be effective in keeping the virus at bay in yet another big venue. 

As I have said all along, I am personally concerned that a vaccine, if there is one, will not be ready until well into next year. Another vaccine trial (the third) has been suspended after a trial subject died in Brazil. If there is no safe vaccine for the next year or two, how long will California remain shutdown? Schools closed? Theaters shuttered? Winter is when flu season is the worst.

I know many people who have stated that even if there is a vaccine, they will not get it. 

The US just reported a 70,000-new-infection case day. The virus is not going away anytime soon.

It appears that California, at least Orange and Los Angeles Counties, will remain shutdown through at least the end of the year. 

So my musketeers, you will have to make the long journey to the other side of the country to ride a boat on the Pirates of the Caribbean before 2020 ends, maybe even 2021. Crazy, right?

Take care and be safe.

Posts Tuesday

 

Coronavirus Cases Soaring

At the beginning of June I felt optimism that the worst of the coronavirus was over. Businesses were opening across the U.S. and around the world, the stock market was rebounding, and infection rates were dropping. I mean even Disneyland announced that they were reopening July 15.

Then on May 28, Korea started closing down after a new outbreak. On June 16, China announced Beijing was instituting a soft lock down after another outbreak, halting flights and closing some businesses. Then states in the U.S. that had instituted strict stay-at-home policies, like California, started to noticed an uptick alongside those that had less restrictive policies like Arizona, Texas, and Florida. By mid-June, California was so bad that last week everyday broke a new record of new infections: 3,000 Monday, 5,000 Tuesday, 7,000 Wednesday, then back to 5,000 Thursday.

Yes, a large part of the increase is due to increased testing, but by no means all.

ICUs are starting to fill up again, a definite sign more testing is not the only cause of the spike.

And here is the kicker, the people that are heading to the ICU and make up the majority of the new cases are young adults. According to The Wall Street Journal, 60% of new cases in California are under the age of 49. In Arizona, 60% of new cases are those under 45. When I take my daily walks most people are wearing masks. At least 9 out of 10 people who aren't wearing masks fit that under age 45 category.

Just like a maskless 20-something strutting down the street past a masked elderly couple. I guess he was proud he wasn't wearing a mask to show how "invincible" he was. 

If the spouse of the elderly couple catches coronavirus from him and later dies, can the young man be charged with negligence. According to Wikipedia, the four elements to a negligence case are: duty, breach, proximate causation, and injury. Holy moly, are we going to see a slew of lawsuits against individuals who aren't wearing masks and spread the coronavirus?

My neighbor has not had a babysitter since the coronavirus hit and has been working from home.  But, walking through my local park yesterday, I saw two nannies sitting together on a large blanket with 5 kids. There was maybe a four-foot gap between the two ladies, but none between the kids. Hmm. 

The Wall Street Journal said Texas and Arizona are attributing the rise in cases to the recent reopening of bars and restaurants. The Texas Tribune said the Governor shut down the bars in the state on Friday as intensive care units are being flooded and they are contemplating plans to treat patients at convention centers and stadiums.

A month ago, most people saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Now it looks like we are going back inside.

 

Financially what does this mean? Disneyland has delayed reopening, Apple is shutting down stores, the stock market is dropping, and states are barring other states' residents from visiting them like New York and New Jersey. So, more layoffs, more people on unemployment, and the bonus of less traffic. 

Will the entertainment industry postpone their reopening? I am seeing fewer gigs on the industry job boards. Even fewer than last month. And here I am only talking about non-union gigs as union gigs have been non-existant.

As I mentioned during the last post, Dr. Fauci complained that people keep talking about the 2nd round when we are still solidly in the first round.

I spoke to a young cop on the street a month ago while I waited for my take out. His partner wore a mask but he didn't. He said it was a personal choice.

Hopefully, everyone makes the right choice so we can get rid of this virus once and for all.

Posts Saturday and Tuesday