Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[CaptainAmerica]

That's a long trip if non stop. I did a red eye from HI to TX which at least I could sleep most of the way before transferring to a connecting flight.

We've done it once before... The flight there is okay because the time change is in your favor. The kids did well. But the redeye coming home was a nightmare. We'll be stopping in California this time.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The big when question is what we are all wondering but it would be something else if the crowds come back for the 50th anniversary celebration for MK in Sept 2021.

Issues:
1. International flights/restrictions
2. Crowd control systems offline at wdw
3. Recession
4. Annual passes

 

[Bullseye1967]

I personally think Disney will do all or nothing with masks, it just gets to hard to enforce if you do any middle ground.

I agree with this times 10000. To say this ride is inside or this PART of a line is outside would be a nightmare to enforce. Tough to enforce something if the rules are tough to understand.

 

[JAKECOTCenter]

So with this announcement, I still standby my claim of the actual 50th celebration being maskless. That could change, but I’m feeling more sure about Disney having a BIG ceremony as sort of a “mission accomplished” type castle show on October 1st. Again I could be wrong, could just be like the 45th but Chapek was hoping for an announcement like this so he could justify limiting restrictions

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Brother you don't have to tell me... I have an 11 hour flight with three children from Boston to Honolulu in November and I ain't doing that with a mask.

You will if they tell you to.

See how this works, Sam Adams??

 

[Tom P.]

Yes, businesses can still mandate. I don’t think it’s like FL where the Governor was threatening local governments and attempting to prevent mask mandates or capacity limits. Just no longer required statewide. I would assume many large cities in TX can still have their own rules as well.

No. Businesses can mandate masks and other restrictions. But cities and counties can't. Counties can only implement their own restrictions if hospital bed utilization in their county rises above 15% capacity. And no penalties can be imposed by counties on people who fail to wear face masks.

 

[DisneyDebRob]

At least North Dakota has started vaccinating 20% of their population and leads the nation. Texas is (checking the chart)...

3rd worst state in the nation at only 12%! Way to go Texas

And.. 81% increase in the last week which leads all states in the virus spreading. This has got to be political in some way, just doesn’t make any sense. Well, wishing you good luck Texas and your neighbors!

 

[GoofGoof]

I personally think Disney will do all or nothing with masks, it just gets to hard to enforce if you do any middle ground.

This is a valid point. If they require masks indoors only they have to rely on CMs to ask people to put them on when entering a shop/restaurant, lobby, bus or transport and when entering the indoor portion of a ride. It would mean a lot more asking people to put their mask on, but there are a lot of outdoor parts of the parks so a lot less space to police. I think it’s hard to predict.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You will if they tell you to.

See how this works, Sam Adams??

No I won't. I'll cancel.

Live free or die.

 

[sullyinMT]

I personally think Disney will do all or nothing with masks, it just gets to hard to enforce if you do any middle ground.

I agree. The exceptions I could personally see to that are maybe in resort public spaces and Disney Springs. Of course 3rd party shops can do what they want above Disney’s rules, but I could see them using those areas as a test balloon.

I agree that it’s way too difficult within park gates to enforce “here yes, there no” levels of mask requirements.

 

[GoofGoof]

No. Businesses can mandate masks and other restrictions. But cities and counties can't. Counties can only implement their own restrictions if hospital bed utilization in their county rises above 15% capacity. And no penalties can be imposed by counties on people who fail to wear face masks.

So basically FL. That’s too bad since rural TX is a different planet than downtown Houston. Very short sighted to force them to have the same rules.

 

[Tom P.]

No I won't. I'll cancel.

Live free or die.

It's confirmed. Captain America supports cancel culture!

 

[sullyinMT]

At least North Dakota has started vaccinating 20% of their population and leads the nation. Texas is (checking the chart)...

3rd worst state in the nation at only 12%! Way to go Texas

Correct. And if you really break it down by age, ND is really nailing their distribution. Getting to the point in some age brackets where the rubber meets the road for red state vaccine acceptance polling.

Montana is more “purple” than people give us credit for being (look at how opposite Sens Tester and Daines are), and we have our first “R” governor in 16 years. He removed the mandate to make a splash, but my point is it hasn’t changed much on the ground. City folk (Bozeman, Missoula, Billings, Great Falls) are no different than any other city and are the ones in masks. Our rancher/miner neighbors (some staunch union democrats) come to town and think we’re a bunch of ninnies.

 

[DCBaker]

Current Florida vaccine report -

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

No I won't. I'll cancel.

Live free or die.

You’re not from New Hampshire...or Arkansas.

But I bet you can get a really nice house there

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think the first step will be masks-still-mandatory-but-not-always. Maybe you have to wear them indoors. Or you can take them off on outdoor rides. Something like that.

That makes zero sense. Not much of a “policy formulator” is ya??

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

At least North Dakota has started vaccinating 20% of their population and leads the nation. Texas is (checking the chart)...

3rd worst state in the nation at only 12%! Way to go Texas

It’s all about freedom...freedom to get a lung infection.

North Dakota has enough people to fit snugly inside Pittsburgh...

 

[havoc315]

Lol exactly one year ago, Fauci said:

"A vaccine that you make and start testing in a year is not a vaccine that's deployable."

And:

"There's no need to change anything you're doing on a day-to-day basis."

I know everyone who hates Trump has to de facto worship Fauci, but the guy is either a liar or an incompetent hack.

EDIT: Fauci* is either a liar or an incompetent hack. Trump is both a liar and an incompetent hack.

Nonsense. That type of attitude comes from a certain pompousness that certainty is better than honesty. Science is all about evolving knowledge, as time goes on, you learn more, you reassess your assumptions. That's how science works.

Take Fauci's comment that there was no need to make day-to-day changes -- that statement came in late February. At the time, our best knowledge was that there were only a handful of cases in the entire country. So yes -- no need to make day-to-day changes, when there are only 15 cases in the entire country. And when he learned there were thousands and thousands of cases -- that advice changes.

And one reason vaccine development went faster than expected, it because of how uncontrolled the virus has been. Studies take much longer when a virus is well contained -- because not enough people are getting sick quickly enough, to measure. The "silver lining" of how totally out of control Covid has become, it greatly accelerated testing.

 

[havoc315]

Yeah...there’s two states I won’t take “queues” from...the other starts with a “F”

But to your point...the thing about the summer is you don’t get viral spread anyway...so if they really pump out/in the vaccines in the next 3 months...won’t nature help ya flatline this thing??

Work smarter...not harder.

Yes... but that seasonal decline may create a false sense of security. Which is why we may get one set of actions on the ground, while the CDC blasts warnings that we are risking a fall resurgence.

... and seasonality in Florida actually was a summer spike in Covid last year --- Likely due to more people congregating indoors for air conditioning.

We may see normalcy return this summer...
Really, general possibilities as to WDW:
1 -- They return to normalcy, CDC warns not too.. but nobody listens to them anymore.
2 --CDC okays a return to normalcy, WDW follows suit.
3 -- CDC continues warnings, WDW continues mitigation measures (though likely reduces the measures)

I don't think we will get to #2 by this summer, at least not until late summer. I expect we may see something between #1 and #3.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Nonsense. That type of attitude comes from a certain pompousness that certainty is better than honesty. Science is all about evolving knowledge, as time goes on, you learn more, you reassess your assumptions. That's how science works.

Take Fauci's comment that there was no need to make day-to-day changes -- that statement came in late February. At the time, our best knowledge was that there were only a handful of cases in the entire country. So yes -- no need to make day-to-day changes, when there are only 15 cases in the entire country. And when he learned there were thousands and thousands of cases -- that advice changes.

And one reason vaccine development went faster than expected, it because of how uncontrolled the virus has been. Studies take much longer when a virus is well contained -- because not enough people are getting sick quickly enough, to measure. The "silver lining" of how totally out of control Covid has become, it greatly accelerated testing.

Except that he consistently made statements using the language of certitude. Things that he framed as entirely outside the realm of possibility have come to pass. "Evolving knowledge" is a reasonable explanation for lack of precision, it is not an acceptable explanation for being just plain wrong.

"A vaccine that you make and start testing in a year is not a vaccine that's deployable" is a statement of certitude. He did not say "wow that would be hard." He did not say "that would really require the stars to align." He did not say "...but we could do it if conditions allow testing to be done quickly." He said "not deployable" as a statement of fact.