Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[MisterPenguin]

The cruise industry is saying that the hoops they would need to jump through are impractical and so effectively by keeping the order in place they can’t conduct business or at least not the way they want to.

Not too unsimilar to Disney Parks having to start a month later than Universal to get all the protocols in place. Or saying they won't do it unless there's enough revenue from it.

The cruise lines can say it was too onerous, but it's mostly the same protocols the European cruises put in place. The same European cruise lines
they keep pointing to, that still have strict protocols, and say, "Let us do that!"

They can. All they had to do was a practice run with volunteers to show their protocols were in place; test everyone; and arrange for a sick boat safe harbor.

They chose not to going back all the way to November of 2020.

 

[disneygeek90]

With regards to cruise lines, I don’t know why they can’t open it up to vaccined individuals starting in the fall, maybe even with a limited capacity. Seems like a good time to get it going and test it out.

 

[GoofGoof]

With regards to cruise lines, I don’t know why they can’t open it up to vaccined individuals starting in the fall, maybe even with a limited capacity. Seems like a good time to get it going and test it out.

I don’t think I’ve seen it talked about formally anywhere, but would that meet the requirement for the CDC? Could the cruise lines be open without restrictions if they required all of the staff and customers to be vaccinated? I’m not sure if it’s legal yet to require workers to be vaccinated since the vaccines are not fully approved yet and are only under emergency use authorization. I suppose the cruise lines could also require a negative Covid test and 2 week quarantine for workers. Basically require them to board the ship 2 weeks ahead of any customers and show a negative Covid test before boarding and then make them quarantine in their room for 2 weeks including daily tests to ensure there’s no Covid on board.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

With regards to cruise lines, I don’t know why they can’t open it up to vaccined individuals starting in the fall, maybe even with a limited capacity. Seems like a good time to get it going and test it out.

For the US yes. But cruise lines operate all over the world. There are countries (departure ports and foreign cruise passengers) that won’t be fully vaccinated until 2022. Combined with the status of the ports the cruise ship calls on - it gets tricky.

I assume that sure if a line wanted to go out and not call on many (any) ports and restricted passage to only those vaccinated - it would be an option. Similar to what Royal Caribbean is doing with their sailing from Israel.

 

[JAKECOTCenter]

I feel like Israel has reached the herd immunity threshold. Over half the population has been fully vaccinated and some have immunity due to the covid antibodies.

 

[GoofGoof]

I feel like Israel has reached the herd immunity threshold. Over half the population has been fully vaccinated and some have immunity due to the covid antibodies.

Its looking good there. They still have a ways to go, but the decline has been steady for a few weeks now after a 2 week plateau of cases. It will be interesting to watch what happens there in the next few weeks. Hopefully the decline continues and they don’t have any setbacks. We are a little over a month behind them on out vaccination pace. We could be sitting where they are today come May 1 if people keep getting the jab.

Their 7 day moving average of cases was 3,676 three weeks ago and today it’s at 998. That’s a 73% drop in cases in 3 weeks. Very good results.

 

[JAKECOTCenter]

Its looking good there. They still have a ways to go, but the decline has been steady for a few weeks now after a 2 week plateau of cases. It will be interesting to watch what happens there in the next few weeks. Hopefully the decline continues and they don’t have any setbacks. We are a little over a month behind them on out vaccination pace. We could be sitting where they are today come May 1 if people keep getting the jab.

Israel has been vaccinating 16 and over since February so it seems like it makes sense that they've reached a milestone with half of all Israelis vaccinated and why I think herd immunity has been reached. With the younger people spreading covid the most, we should've vaccinated them from the beginning like Israel

 

[DisneyCane]

Israel has been vaccinating 16 and over since February so it seems like it makes sense that they've reached a milestone with half of all Israelis vaccinated and why I think herd immunity has been reached. With the younger people spreading covid the most, we should've vaccinated them from the beginning like Israel

No we absolutely shouldn't have.

 

[GoofGoof]

No we absolutely shouldn't have.

Depends on your desired end goal. If the only focus is on hospitalizations and deaths than it makes sense to start with the elderly and high risk. If your goal is to reduce overall cases as fast as possible then it makes sense to vaccinate the most likely to spread Covid first. I think the US approach worked pretty well. The first priority going to healthcare workers and nursing homes made the most sense. The next phase including the elderly, people with high risk medical conditions and certain higher exposure essential workers allowed for a blend of protecting the most vulnerable and at the same time reducing spread in groups likely to have a high level of exposure. So far it’s working pretty well although the rollout is mixed depending on where you live.

 

[Kevin_W]

Depends on your desired end goal. If the only focus is on hospitalizations and deaths than it makes sense to start with the elderly and high risk.

I can't imagine having a different first priority than reducing hospitalization and death.

 

[GoofGoof]

I can't imagine having a different first priority than reducing hospitalization and death.

There wasn’t a different first priority here unless I’m mistaken and some places did it differently. The issue comes in if you make that your only priority. I’ve seen numerous people say that once the elderly and high risk are vaccinated we are done and all restrictions can be removed and life can return to normal. That’s not a very good plan. We need to get a large number of people vaccinated to actually beat down the virus. Returning to “normal” while covid cases rage is risky and devastating for the economy.

 

[MaryJaneP]

What "harbor" would want to take a ship full of "sick people"?

 

[GoofGoof]

What "harbor" would want to take a ship full of "sick people"?

None in FL. This was almost 365 days ago.

As cruise ship carrying sick and dead passengers moves toward Florida, governor says state can't take them

 

[DisneyDebRob]

What "harbor" would want to take a ship full of "sick people"?

None at all. GoofGoof just linked one but if I remember correctly there was multiple ships around the world not being invited into port because of illness. Granted, that was back when everyone had no idea what to do but I’m thinking there still isn’t any ports that would want to deal with that.

 

[GoofGoof]

None at all. GoofGoof just linked one but if I remember correctly there was multiple ships around the world not being invited into port because of illness. Granted, that was back when everyone had no idea what to do but I’m thinking there still isn’t any ports that would want to deal with that.

It’s a tough balancing act between the economic benefit of having those cruise ports and the potential risk to your community if there’s a ship with multiple infected guests that get off and scatter into the community. I’m not sure enough time has passed yet for the general public to forget those images of the ships stranded off the coast looking for places to dock. It was not just FL, it was an international disaster. Remember too that once they got all of the passengers off the workers were stranded on some of those ships for weeks or months. I’m not a huge fan of cruising anyway, but I am in no hurry to see those issues return.

 

[BrianLo]

My impression was cruises would resume with fully vaccinated crew and passengers. With children requiring negative PCR.

I mean, there isn't much better than that type of situation. Certainly not at Disney, even by the summer. Particularly since most of the early focus will be on their private islands.

I agree with the pre-vaccination opinions on cruises, but it's disingenuous to say they are still the problem after the fact. However, where they should sail is strictly from markets that have proper vaccination penetration. The US really should be one by July.


I think it's important that 'science' prevail here for the public to get on board. A fully vaccinated ship will be an immune herd.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I can't imagine having a different first priority than reducing hospitalization and death.

That is the primary goal.
But vaccinating ahead of variant spread is gaining on the rail.

Shut up and vax up...is where we’re at.

My impression was cruises would resume with fully vaccinated crew and passengers. With children requiring negative PCR.

I mean, there isn't much better than that type of situation. Certainly not at Disney, even by the summer. Particularly since most of the early focus will be on their private islands.

I agree with the pre-vaccination opinions on cruises, but it's disingenuous to say they are still the problem after the fact. However, where they should sail is strictly from markets that have proper vaccination penetration. The US really should be one by July.


I think it's important that 'science' prevail here for the public to get on board. A fully vaccinated ship will be an immune herd.

The cruise lines are mulling exactly what you’ve described.

Cruises will be the last thing to resume.
We’re not their yet. Only “domestic” itineraries maybe what ends up happening. Which could be only US ports and maybe private islands.

The immediate problem with cruises? Exposure to the Brazilian strain. Brazil is the largest problem on earth right now. Europe gets the headlines.

Proximity makes the Caribbean dangerous.

 

[Darkprime]

Just thinking out loud here. But lets say Disney starts using some sort of vaccine passport post-pandemic. How are they going to deal with some vaccines not being as effective as others? Like are they going to deny entry if you got the J&J jab while Disney may prefer Pfizer or Moderna because their more effective? Gonna be really curious to see how this all works.

 

[Horizons '83]

Just thinking out loud here. But lets say Disney starts using some sort of vaccine passport post-pandemic. How are they going to deal with some vaccines not being as effective as others? Like are they going to deny entry if you got the J&J jab while Disney may prefer Pfizer or Moderna because their more effective? Gonna be really curious to see how this all works.

If it’s approved, Disney will allow you entry. If it’s good enough for the CDC/FDA it’s good enough for Disney.

 

[Polkadotdress]

I just can’t fathom how the cruise line handles an anti-masker. We’ve all seen/heard stories of passengers that take their mask off mid-flight, or the Disney guest that sheds his mask when he’s alllllll the way in the back of the park. Those situations are resolved quickly.

What repercussions are there for someone who behaves like that on a cruise ship?