Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[JLipnick]

Luckily, we have the ability to self-quarantine when we get back (which was the plan all along).

we are in a similar boat. we leave next Thursday for an 8 day WDW stay. we are driving so no issues with flying and all of us are young(ish) and with no underlying health conditions. our biggest concern is seeing my parents when we get back and we just won't see them for two weeks afterwards. my daughter's school will probably do online schooling for the rest of the year and I work from home already. my wife works at a hospital so she will be fine. so we are still planning to go and the only change we are making is not eating at buffets. if WDW closes, then we will either just relax at the resorts or cancel but for now, we are a go.

 

[John park hopper]

we are in a similar boat. we leave next Thursday for an 8 day WDW stay. we are driving so no issues with flying and all of us are young(ish) and with no underlying health conditions. our biggest concern is seeing my parents when we get back and we just won't see them for two weeks afterwards. my daughter's school will probably do online schooling for the rest of the year and I work from home already. my wife works at a hospital so she will be fine. so we are still planning to go and the only change we are making is not eating at buffets. if WDW closes, then we will either just relax at the resorts or cancel but for now, we are a go.

You are doing the responsible thing--- now only if all people were like you--sadly they are not

 

[Incomudro]

Get a grip people. There were between 171,000 and 575,000 deaths from H1N1 in 2009 and I don’t recall WDW closing.

2009 H1N1 Pandemic

A summary of key events of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and the CDC's response activities between April 2009 and April 2010.

www.cdc.gov

Unfortunately, if it closes - and unfortunately I believe it will close - it'll close due to a public demand of sorts that everything close.
"How can this stay open?"
How can that stay open - if that closed!"
"Don't they care?!"

 

[trainplane3]

The entire world: Stay away from gatherings of people over 250. Stay in your homes. Don't risk exposure.
Disney: Have a squirt of hand juice. It's free!

must.
Not
MAKE.
COMMENT!

 

[Rimmit]

so what do you suggest we the people should do because it is ultimately our own responsibility to protect our own health

I personally vote to go nuclear and shut it down till this subsides. It is obvious in watching other countries that have gone through this that that is the only option that seems to truly work in the end. Just putting bandaids on the situation is just delaying the inevitable.

At the rate we are going using other countries as a model, we will likely be at the point Italy did a lockdown in probably 10-14 days. might as well skip over that time span, save lives, and shorten the amount of time we have this hanging over our heads.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Jail time.

Why stop there?

 

[HongKongFooy]

Whom are we kidding???

It's inevitable......Disney and Universal will shut down. They are the last USA significant venues left standing.

It's all but over now

 

[Incomudro]

That is a very valid point. I think it comes back to the question for the experts about the transmission risk in a busy theme park. Honestly, what Disney should do is request and evaluation from the CDS/NIH/Task Force and then base the decision on their determination.

Without any expert opinion, I would personally not want elderly people visiting WDW right now. They made that recommendation for cruise ships, but cruise ships are certainly MUCH higher risk for spreading illness than a theme park. Every time there is norovirus on a cruise ship a large percentage of passengers get infected. From memory, I can't recall any illness that had an outbreak at a theme park. But, for the elderly and/or people with serious underlying medical conditions, I would think that they should avoid theme parks out of an abundance of caution.

Yes, I would certainly not want my mother in law - a greatly overweight woman in here early 70's who's been a lifelong smoker, has copd and still smokes to visit WDW.
A visit for a person like her could have a vastly different outcome than a visit for my wife, our son's and I.
Increasingly, I believe (fear?) that WDW will be closing around the time of our booking.
Things change so quickly week to week, and it looks like both the fear and the reality of this virus are going to rise quickly here in the US.
I believe it'll all plummet just as quickly, but don't know when that drop off will be?
Two months from now?
Four?

 

[Prince-1]

Whom are we kidding???

It's inevitable......Disney and Universal will shut down. They are the last USA significant venues left standing.

It's all but over now

I agree with you that it is indeed inevitable that all Disney/Universal parks will close for until this is over.

 

[LukeS7]

Italian cardiologist says surgical department has been shut down to make room for coronavirus patients

The head of an Italian cardiac surgery department said the coronavirus outbreak has forced his department to suspend operations to make room for coronavirus patients.

www.cnn.com

An Italian hospital is saying that they had to shut down their cardiac surgery department to make room for Coronavirus patients. This is what we need to avoid here.

 

[Crunchie9]

 

[The Mom]

we are in a similar boat. we leave next Thursday for an 8 day WDW stay. we are driving so no issues with flying and all of us are young(ish) and with no underlying health conditions. our biggest concern is seeing my parents when we get back and we just won't see them for two weeks afterwards. my daughter's school will probably do online schooling for the rest of the year and I work from home already. my wife works at a hospital so she will be fine. so we are still planning to go and the only change we are making is not eating at buffets. if WDW closes, then we will either just relax at the resorts or cancel but for now, we are a go.

I hope you mean that her employer will be fine with her self quarantining when she gets home.

 

[TaoBoxer]

Not sure if this makes any sense, but perhaps events like the NBA or March madness & such are held in closed arena's, while WDW is open-aired?

 

[DCBaker]

Only roughly 11k people in the US have been tested so far.

 

[Clyde Birdbrain]

WDW staying open is not just for the money. The fear that will be created if Orlando shuts down will make things worse. Disney as nd Universal should remain open as long as possible to give the public faith that life goes on and we will get over this.

I don't understand how Disney and Universal remaining open would give the public faith, while entire countries are shutting down. It does the opposite to me. I live near Orlando and don't like the idea of keeping the parks open anymore. Beside the obvious problem of spreading the virus with all these people in close proximity, it could also put extra strain on Central Florida when on top of local residents there are many tourists using up resources at local hospitals, especially when transportation is shut down and people are stuck here.

 

[LSLS]

Think you can pretty much kiss the NHL season goodbye this afternoon.

 

[Jwink]

Whom are we kidding???

It's inevitable......Disney and Universal will shut down. They are the last USA significant venues left standing.

It's all but over now

I mean... that’s a lot of jobs... and do you mean forever? That’s drastic

 

[Jwink]

Disney in Japan is actually closed right now.

WDW Orlando is the only one holding out for money while the NBA has shutdown the season and March Madness is a shell of what it once was due to lockdown.

There is no excuse for WDW to still stay open.

Yes there is. They are not only thinking of money. They are trying to figure out how to put 75,000 people out of work in orlando. The economy will plummet in the city.

 

[techgeek]

COVID-19 | Florida Department of Health

COVID-19

www.floridahealth.gov

As of this morning, there have only been 450 tests run in the entire state. 150 of those are still pending results. We clearly do not have even the slightest picture of what the actual footprint of the virus in Florida looks like at this time.

 

[GoofGoof]

WDW staying open is not just for the money. The fear that will be created if Orlando shuts down will make things worse. Disney as nd Universal should remain open as long as possible to give the public faith that life goes on and we will get over this. It was important to the country when WDW opened up after 9/11. It was also important to Japan when Tokyo Disney reopened after the Tsunami. Life will go on and Disney isvan important symbol for all of us.

It’s not about symbolism. People from all over the country gather at WDW and then head back to their home towns. That’s a quick way to spread the disease. Look at the biotech conference in Boston. If the same thing happens at WDW and multiple people get infected they may bring the sickness back to almost every state. We need to reduce mass gatherings for the short term to slow this thing now. Doing it later may be too late and may result in a much longer shut down.

We need mass testing, the government to lay out clear and easy to follow protocols and then people need to follow them. None of that has happened so far but hopefully will soon. Hong Kong has had very few cases. They rolled out mass testing right away, immediately quarantined the sick and traced all the contact they had. It’s a smaller land area than the US to control, but the longer we wait the more difficult it will be to do that.