Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Parker in NYC]

Not reporting anything new, but just a word of caution... one of my physician partners had 2nd dose of Pfizer vaccine in early Jan, but just tested + for covid. He has 101 degree fever and significant malaise. Whether he is one of the 4-5% that didn’t get immunity to the original strain or he is infected with a variant, I don’t know.
Either way, this and recent worldwide upticks lead me to believe that this is not going away anytime soon. We will need updated vaccines, more efficient testing, better treatments, and patience. We will learn to live with it.

I hope your partner makes a full recovery. On a selfish note, this did wonders for my Sunday. Hypochondriacs unite.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The very most that masks and social distancing have done is reduce the rate of spread.
Those things are good things, if they did indeed keep this virus from compounding at a rate beyond which our healthcare systems could handle.
But did they actually prevent this pandemic from running its course?
It doesn't seem as though they did.
Honestly, do people really believe that when groups of people are near each other and they are wearing ill fitting surgical masks, that the air they inhale and exhale isn't going in and around all those gaps in the seal of the masks?
And social distancing, the air we inhale and exhale doesn't just drop off and away at six feet, or now three feet.
Sometimes you're walking behind someone, or riding in a WDW vehicle directly behind someone, or you're downwind from people.
And so many other variables... Air and the viral particles it may carry doesn't flow or not flow under a set of rigid criteria.
Air is a fluid.

Plenty of studies and explanations have been provided. It’s not all or nothing. Even an ill fitting mask that is capturing some droplets is reducing the amount being expelled. In the air particles dissipate with distance. Getting infected requires an amount of exposure and reducing concentration helps that. It’s like having a handfull of flour and throwing it at someone. If they’re close most of it will hit them but just a few feet away and it’ll be less as the flour separates in the air.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Mask, distancing, plexiglass, businesses closed, lining up 6ft apart for something you are then sat next to people on, basic fear of living life for something that has a > 99% survival rate.

How is distancing and plexiglass afecting
your life?

What businesses are closed where you live?

Do you have basic fear of living life? I don’t.

Masks can be mildly uncomfortable and annoying to some so I guess if you fully believe that they do nothing to help keep you and others healthy then you have the right to be annoyed by them.

 

[LittleBuford]

I really hope this isn’t the case.

Covid: Masks and social distancing 'could last years'

Measures may remain until jabs roll out across the world, Public Health England's Dr Mary Ramsay says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[DisneyFan32]

I really hope this isn’t the case.

Covid: Masks and social distancing 'could last years'

Measures may remain until jabs roll out across the world, Public Health England's Dr Mary Ramsay says.

www.bbc.co.uk

is for other parts of the world...not US? USA will first to get rid masks and social distancing this year?

 

[LittleBuford]

is for other parts of the world...not US? USA will first to get rid masks and social distancing this year?

The quoted expert states that most of the world needs to be vaccinated before masks and distancing can safely be discontinued. I assume this opinion applies as much to the US as it does to the UK, but I have no expertise in this area and cannot answer any specific questions relating to it.

 

[DisneyFan32]

@GoofGoof Is USA will continuting social distancing and masks for few more years more? NOOOOO!!! Will they will be gone for good this year?

 

[GoofGoof]

The quoted expert states that most of the world needs to be vaccinated before masks and distancing can safely be discontinued. I assume this opinion applies as much to the US as it does to the UK, but I have no expertise in this area and cannot answer any specific questions relating to it.

@GoofGoof Is USA will continuting social distancing and masks for few more years more? NOOOOO!!! Will they will be gone for good this year?

International travel can be limited or completely restricted if need be. There’s no reason if the situation in the US improves dramatically that people here will need to wear masks and distance for years because of outbreaks in other countries. New Zealand as an example had most of their economy open this Summer without masks required but they heavily restricted international travel. It’s possible for the US to do. Europe is a little more problematic due to open borders and the amount of commerce that happens across International borders.

 

[LittleBuford]

International travel can be limited or completely restricted if need be. There’s no reason if the situation in the US improves dramatically that people here will need to wear masks and distance for years because of outbreaks in other countries. New Zealand as an example had most of their economy open this Summer without masks required but they heavily restricted international travel. It’s possible to do.

Given its location and geography, New Zealand is much easier to cut off from the rest of the world than the UK and US are. I do hope your optimistic outlook turns out to be the case, because I too am desperate for life to return to normal.

 

[DisneyFan32]

International travel can be limited or completely restricted if need be. There’s no reason if the situation in the US improves dramatically that people here will need to wear masks and distance for years because of outbreaks in other countries. New Zealand as an example had most of their economy open this Summer without masks required but they heavily restricted international travel. It’s possible for the US to do. Europe is a little more problematic due to open borders and the amount of commerce that happens across International borders.

So US will lift masks and social distancing for good soon this year? As other parts of world have to wait another few years?

 

[SamusAranX]

I’m extremely comfortable with restricting international travel as long as needed. That’s the only thing keeping some countries from seeing surges, and it can undo much of the good work from vaccinations. I’m looking at you Brazil

 

[GoofGoof]

Given its location and geography, New Zealand is much easier to cut off from the rest of the world than the UK and US are. I do hope your optimistic outlook turns out to be the case, because I too am desperate for life to return to normal.

The vast majority of people coming into the US would be doing it by airplane. It’s pretty easy to either stop international flights altogether to/from hotspots and also to require proof of vaccination to fly in from another country and/or require a full quarantine and/or require a series of negative tests. It’s nearly impossible to close State borders and isolate parts of the US from each other but it’s pretty straight forward to do for International travel.

 

[GoofGoof]

I’m extremely comfortable with restricting international travel as long as needed. That’s the only thing keeping some countries from seeing surges, and it can undo much of the good work from vaccinations. I’m looking at you Brazil

It’s a killer for the cruise industry and airlines won’t be real happy, but I can’t imagine people all happily agreeing to wear masks and distance for years in the US if cases are very low but the pandemic is still raging in other parts of the world. That’s simply not going to happen here.

 

[LittleBuford]

The vast majority of people coming into the US would be doing it by airplane. It’s pretty easy to either stop international flights altogether to/from hotspots and also to require proof of vaccination to fly in from another country and/or require a full quarantine and/or require a series of negative tests. It’s nearly impossible to close State borders and isolate parts of the US from each other but it’s pretty straight forward to do for International travel.

Perhaps you’re right. It sounds like a logistical nightmare to me, and I don’t know that it would calm people’s discontent (because presumably, the same restrictions would stop Americans themselves from travelling unimpeded), but I suppose it could be done with enough effort.

 

[hopemax]

I really hope this isn’t the case.

Covid: Masks and social distancing 'could last years'

Measures may remain until jabs roll out across the world, Public Health England's Dr Mary Ramsay says.

www.bbc.co.uk

It probably will, in places. We were supposed to go back to Japan in October 2020, and now I've been wondering how long it will be before we will realistically be able to take that trip, given Japan's reputation for things. My Dad was supposed to come, and while he is a healthy almost 74 year old, will he still be up for it when Japan opens their borders to Americans without restrictions (because, while we are fine wearing masks at DL or WDW, we really don't want to fly to Japan and do that)? For as much as most of the US, will probably say to heck with it all, those that are used to traveling internationally, or attending multi-national events like sports and concerts, we'll probably be running into restrictions somewhere. Other countries will have their own standards, and I assume many will be more restrictive than US policies, since that's the way it's tended so far.

 

[LittleBuford]

It probably will, in places. We were supposed to go back to Japan in October 2020, and now I've been wondering how long it will be before we will realistically be able to take that trip, given Japan's reputation for things. My Dad was supposed to come, and while he is a healthy almost 74 year old, will he still be up for it when Japan opens their borders to Americans without restrictions (because, while we are fine wearing masks at DL or WDW, we really don't want to fly to Japan and do that)? For as much as most of the US, will probably say to heck with it all, those that are used to traveling internationally, or attending multi-national events like sports and concerts, we'll probably be running into restrictions somewhere. Other countries will have their own standards, and I assume many will be more restrictive than US policies, since that's the way it's tended so far.

I hope you’re able to enjoy that trip to Japan with your father before too long. I’m going to reward myself with a pilgrimage to DisneySea when this is all over (no joke!).

 

[GoofGoof]

Perhaps you’re right. It sounds like a logistical nightmare to me, and I don’t know that it would calm people’s discontent (because presumably, the same restrictions would stop Americans themselves from travelling unimpeded), but I suppose it could be done with enough effort.

It’s a math exercise. Less than a third of Americans even have a passport. In 2019 less than 15% of Americans actually traveled overseas. On the flip side the vast majority of people ate in a restaurant or did some sort of activity that is in some way limited by the requirement to wear masks and distance. So the discontent will come from less than 15% of the population who can’t freely travel overseas and return with no restrictions. If the answer is to require testing or a vaccine they won’t be prevented from going, just have an extra step. Keeping masks and distancing for years means places like restaurants and bars have to limit their capacity indefinitely, WDW can‘t return to normal operations, concerts, sporting events, weddings, graduations are all impacted for years to come. I just don’t see people accepting that so less than 15% of the population can fly overseas without any requirements.

 

[MaryJaneP]

Is it true that this will eventually end one way or the other? Either there will be no hosts to transmit the virus surviving or there will be too little transmission to 1. overwhelm healthcare systems and/or 2. kill as many hosts as have already been lost to this pandemic. Maybe some of the steps taken so far (masks, social distancing, washing, lockdowns, vaccines) are chosen to pursue a specific course the population wants to follow.

Poor Brazilians in Manaus as it seems naturally achieved herd immunity by infecting the populace has not stemmed their third wave and their health systems are not equipped to handle the load of sick. The British Medical Journal highlights their plight here.

Covid-19: Is Manaus the final nail in the coffin for natural herd immunity?

Many thought a second wave was impossible in Brazil’s Amazon because of the severity of the first. A second crisis has stunned the city of Manaus, reports Luke Taylor , and raises questions around a new variant and the likelihood of natural herd immunity Hospitals in the Brazilian Amazon...

www.bmj.com

Calls to mind the frequently used plea that we be granted the strength to change what we can, the patience to endure that which we cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference. Do enough people (that are not contraindicated) have the strength to change from unvaccinated to vaccinated, from non-mitigators to mitigators, from narcissists to society-protectors? It will be interesting to watch.

 

[LittleBuford]

It’s a math exercise. Less than a third of Americans even have a passport. In 2019 less than 15% of Americans actually traveled overseas. On the flip side the vast majority of people ate in a restaurant or did some sort of activity that is in some way limited by the requirement to wear masks and distance. So the discontent will come from less than 15% of the population who can’t freely travel overseas and return with no restrictions. If the answer is to require testing or a vaccine they won’t be prevented from going, just have an extra step. Keeping masks and distancing for years means places like restaurants and bars have to limit their capacity indefinitely, WDW can‘t return to normal operations, concerts, sporting events, weddings, graduations are all impacted for years to come. I just don’t see people accepting that so less than 15% of the population can fly overseas without any requirements.

Perhaps you’re right. I’m thinking too much like a Brit, despite having lived in the US for all these years. Still, I think keeping the country sealed off in the way you describe will take prodigious resources and effort. I personally can’t see it happening, but I’ve given up on predicting anything with any degree of confidence after the events of the past half-decade.

 

[GoofGoof]

Perhaps you’re right. I’m thinking too much like a Brit, despite having lived in the US for all these years. Still, I think keeping the country sealed off in the way you describe will take prodigious resources and effort. I personally can’t see it happening, but I’ve given up on predicting anything with any degree of confidence after the events of the past half-decade.

I don’t think it will be plan A. I think the hope is cases are low enough here that we can remove restrictions and slowly bring back all International Flights. If it turns out a hotspot pops up in another country and it’s linked to a spike in cases here we would have to pivot to plan B and further restrict International travel.