Masks and Social Distancing Go Away in WDW

[RobbinsDad]

I expect restrictions to be loosened in phases. For starters will be a gradual increase in capacity over 2021 (maybe with a goal of 100% by the holidays) and reduction of social distancing protocol for lines, shows and other events. Masks will be the last thing to go - but this may also be reduced in phases, maybe removing requirements in resort outdoor areas or while on some rides.

 

[TokyoMiki]

. There are people who wear masks walking alone on the trails at our local arboretum

shows how paranoid and misinformed some can be. is that in america. is "Chi" short for chicago like where there are bulls and thick pizza.

 

[Dog Ate Mouse]

You know I rethink this and my answer was Summer 2021. I am so wrong after I sat down and thought of this more. Yes the US will be getting more and more people vaccinated and I think for the most part will take awhile. We will have the doses but not enough people to give the injections. Then I did not think about other visitors outside the USA that come and not sure if they are vaccinated or not. This would surely include a delay as well. So based on my after thoughts, I am more like thinking Fall of 2022

 

[Raineman]

If all COVID restrictions in North America are still mostly/fully in place by summer of 2022 or beyond, then we have failed as a society. If the vast majority of people are vaccinated by the end of 2021, with vaccines that work, then there is no reason why all of these requirements should remain in place after that. The option of wearing a mask will always be there, even after all of this, so the people who want to still wear one shouldn't have any issues continuing to do so.

 

[DisneyFan32]

If all COVID restrictions in North America are still mostly/fully in place by summer of 2022 or beyond, then we have failed as a society. If the vast majority of people are vaccinated by the end of 2021, with vaccines that work, then there is no reason why all of these requirements should remain in place after that. The option of wearing a mask will always be there, even after all of this, so the people who want to still wear one shouldn't have any issues continuing to do so.

WDW will might lift masks and social distancing earlier this summer than early next year because it depends a lot of people are getting vaccinating. United States may remove masks and social distancing this summer or late spring before WDW does soon.

 

[Spookie2018]

I think the mask requirement will be gone by the fall. Once the vaccine is readily available to everyone, I can't imagine that a requirement (that impacts business) is going to remain in place to protect those who chose not to vaccinate.

 

[BASS]

I don't mean to be critical or negative, but I don't understand why folks are speculating on something that is so complex that even experts in the medical community won't opine. But, anyways, it's a message board so carry on

 

[TokyoMiki]

I don't mean to be critical or negative, but I don't understand why folks are speculating on something that is so complex that even experts in the medical community won't opine.

your point is a strange one.

you take issue with conversation on speculation over policy change???

so does this mean you never think or talk about things like the price of gold going up or down, the chances that north korea delivers a dirty bomb, your favorite movie making it to netflix, whether or not mcdonalds will discontinue their 6 piece chicken mcnugget, will universal dethrone disney with its epic universe?

conjecture and predictions are fun.

 

[plawren2]

I don't mean to be critical or negative, but I don't understand why folks are speculating on something that is so complex that even experts in the medical community won't opine. But, anyways, it's a message board so carry on

sure seems like the experts are opining away.. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/life-return-normal-covid-experts-summer-fall/story?id=76277557

 

[NelleBelle]

All adult vaccines should be available by May from what I'm hearing. Are you saying we can't do this until June/July?

Here in WA we still are in phase 1-B2--only allowing high risk workers in certain industries to get their vaccine. I'm a T1-diabetic with another comorbidity and my group hasn't even been called yet. They've said that WA is no way going to be ready to vaccinate "all adults" by May 1 due to the allotment of vaccines we're getting. I only got my first-dose of the Pfizer vaccine due to the fact that I'm now teaching some at my kids' school. It would be great if our state could move at the pace of other states but the the fact is there are states that will not meet this May "deadline"(?).

 

[DisneyDave71]

I voted 2022, but I also voted in another poll last year that the parks would open in April of 2020. So not a very good track record...

 

[plawren2]

Guessing social distancing and masks will be still in place in WDW this fall, perhaps into 2021 holiday season or early 2022. Very possible social distancing goes away first

 

[BASS]

your point is a strange one.

you take issue with conversation on speculation over policy change???

so does this mean you never think or talk about things like the price of gold going up or down, the chances that north korea delivers a dirty bomb, your favorite movie making it to netflix, whether or not mcdonalds will discontinue their 6 piece chicken mcnugget, will universal dethrone disney with its epic universe?

conjecture and predictions are fun.

It's not a point as much as poking fun! But the difference is that all those things have a history where some predictable analysis can be made based on prior experience. Fortunately (yet unfortunately for this thread ), we have nothing to compare this situation to.

 

[Tom P.]

My guess is late summer/early fall of this year. For better or for worse, when vaccines are available to all adults without restrictions, I think you will see societal acceptance of masks fade fast.

 

[NelleBelle]

I think I'll be one of the odd people who will likely continue to use a mask when I fly. I was one of the "germ" freaks who scrubbed my seat, seatbelt, window shade, tray table, arm rest--you name it, it got scrubbed down with a lysol wipe. I also worked in a hospital on a unit where I practically lived in a mask, surgical cap, and gown. But also know that since I'm at risk for having complications if I get sick, I don't mind looking like an oddball. But it would be nice to be able to go on vacation (anywhere) and not panic because I don't have something covering my face! Or constantly asking my kids, "did you remember your mask?", twenty-times/day!

 

[DisneyJoe]

Didn't the CDC just announce for schools the kids only need to be 3 foot apart now. So give it time and those lines will be back to normal.

They did, yes, but the Massachusetts study they are basing that on assumes all other precautions are in place - masks, proper ventilation, hand washing, etc.

 

[NelleBelle]

They did, yes, but the Massachusetts study they are basing that on assumes all other precautions are in place - masks, proper ventilation, hand washing, etc.

I'll say this, and this is just my family's personal experience. Our kids go to a small private school. The high school they attend has ~60 students in this year, the elementary ~110. So every kid has their temp. checked as they enter the building, they hand sanitize entering/exiting every classroom (and they exit a different door on the opposite side of the classroom that exits to another hallway or outside), they sit 6-ft apart, they wear masks, they had there hvac system upgraded to comply with the CDC recs, they have one of those disinfectant sprayers, the principal himself helps clean the bathrooms at least 3x/day (the custodian is doing it other times), band is held in the gym and they all have covers for their instruments while wearing masks...all this and more (I'm on the school board and I know I'm forgetting things, oh, they have the option to distance-learn and will all do distance learning next week after spring break as a "quarantine")--and we still had a teacher and a student contract covid.

So I am not quite ready to have our little school go to 3-ft as of yet. I realize when I am at the school that these high school kids when they are walking to their classes are really not staying 6-ft apart and probably already 3-ft (or closer ). But given we've already had covid in our school with every precaution we can put in place, we can't control what's going on at the students' homes and what they do there. So I'd like to keep our school with the 6-ft precautions for the 9-weeks of school they have left.

 

[vikescaper]

I think we will have masks until 2022 but social distancing may relax as more adults get vaccinated.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

sure seems like the experts are opining away.. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/life-return-normal-covid-experts-summer-fall/story?id=76277557

I can't fathom a person, like in this article, who says they may not be able to hug people again. It is such a foreign concept among my family and friends. We never stopped getting together or hugging or anything like that. Things are normal in our households. It is the outside world that has gone Coocoo for Cocoa Puffs. But it just boggles my mind that there are people living their lives as if a hug is dangerous. And I know these people, there is the odd family member and friend hunkering down in their house for the last year only going out for "essentials" as if they are that crazy neighbor of yours that made a bomb shelter and never leaves it. The problem is those people have dragged the rest of society down with the way they think.

Social distancing? You may as well say a 4-letter word among our friends and family.

We were at a playground yesterday with the kids as the weather is warmer now. Tons of kids there, no masks, just kids being normal. Climbing on the same parts the other kids are, touching the same parts, playing with each other like normal, etc. It makes me realize that it is the adults of the world in the last year that have screwed up some of these kids psychologically and it made me realize just how liberated children are when there aren't adults around messing with their brains. Grown adults afraid of a hug could learn a ton from watching how children interact.

 

[plawren2]

I can't fathom a person, like in this article, who says they may not be able to hug people again. It is such a foreign concept among my family and friends. We never stopped getting together or hugging or anything like that. Things are normal in our households. It is the outside world that has gone Coocoo for Cocoa Puffs. But it just boggles my mind that there are people living their lives as if a hug is dangerous. And I know these people, there is the odd family member and friend hunkering down in their house for the last year only going out for "essentials" as if they are that crazy neighbor of yours that made a bomb shelter and never leaves it. The problem is those people have dragged the rest of society down with the way they think.

Social distancing? You may as well say a 4-letter word among our friends and family.

We were at a playground yesterday with the kids as the weather is warmer now. Tons of kids there, no masks, just kids being normal. Climbing on the same parts the other kids are, touching the same parts, playing with each other like normal, etc. It makes me realize that it is the adults of the world in the last year that have screwed up some of these kids psychologically and it made me realize just how liberated children are when there aren't adults around messing with their brains. Grown adults afraid of a hug could learn a ton from watching how children interact.

When you know a family member who mistakenly got COVID from another family member last year when they were not wearing masks or social distancing at family gatherings (I know several), then you realize why many would take those precautions to protect their loved ones, especially those at highest risk.