Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[GoofGoof]

I truly think the world has changed on its treatment of covid. Remember Disney did not drop after Delta but chose to drop during omicron before numbers were really low. The mentality of masks even with the CDC has shifted again.

I respectfully disagree. This is not last year. There has been a very dramatic, palpable sea change in the public's attitude toward Covid restrictions. I don't believe the public would accept them coming back this time as they have in the past.

IMHO, unless we get a horrible new variant that manages to escape the vaccines, restrictions are not coming back even if we have another surge.

And even then, we probably wouldn't experience widespread restrictions like we did in 2020.

I don’t disagree that things have changed and it would take a lot more to return to any level of restrictions. I don‘t think it’s likely at all that we will return to a high level of restrictions anywhere and definitely not at WDW, but I was disagreeing with the statement that no matter what happens we won't go back to any restrictions. I am trying to remain positive and optimistic so I don’t even want to speculate about the possible negatives, but if there’s anything the last 2 years have taught us is we should never say never. From a Disney prospective I don’t see any way they will go back to capacity limits or distancing that impact operations but other stuff like masks could be on the table if they become absolutely necessary. What does it take to be absolutely necessary….who knows, but not just a spike in cases at this point. As @Tom P said probably would take a new, severely dangerous variant and a major change in public sentiment.

 

[GoofGoof]

Good to see a post from you!!!

I share your sentiments. As for the bold, if one thing good can come out of all of this it would be more people practicing better hygiene. If everybody washes their hands frequently and properly and covers coughs and sneezes with their elbow, we'd have a fewer people come down with nuisance illnesses every year and A LOT fewer catching them at WDW.

When I was at WDW in August I used hand sanitizer continuously since it was so readily available. I know it costs money to supply and labor hours to maintain/fill the machines but it’s worth it if it keeps your guests healthy and spending money. I hope that does become a norm and not just a covid thing. My office had installed hand sanitizers in all the kitchenettes and cafeterias well before covid so I hope they don’t get wrapped up in the “Covid mitigations” category and end up cancelled due to public sentiment against any “restrictions”.

 

[GoofGoof]

What "beat COVID," if it has been beaten, was the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 being highly contagious and not severe for most people. Therefore it was able to immunize a huge percentage of the population in a short time period without killing a high percentage.

If NYC beat COVID with diligence and masks then I guess FL beat COVID using different tactics since there were a lot fewer masks and a lot less "diligence" here.

Omicron did change the game.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

I think the TP shortage started with legit shortages. People all of a sudden were staying home. Commercial rolls of TP were going unused and the need for consumer packages of TP skyrocketed. Overnight. From there, I assume it built upon itself and people did what people do when they hear things are in short supply.

If those TP hoarders were outside-the-box thinkers they would have just hooked up a garden hose to the bathroom sink. Problem solved!

 

[Heppenheimer]

Agreed! I still do not understand the toilet paper hoarding. Household cleaning products I can understand, but... toilet paper??? Then again, I still can't figure out why bread and milk are the two hot items anytime there's going to be a snowstorm.

And I've seen the same thing as you with regard to demand for masks.

I remember when I was stationed at Ft. Stewart, near Savannah, and a rare light snow storm was forecast. Being a displaced Northerner, I thought nothing of it, but my unit required everyone to submit a "personal disaster preparedness plan". I also made the mistake of stopping off at the commissary for some minor item, only to find long lines of people stocking up/hoarding groceries. In the end, I don't even think the small amount of snow we did get even stuck without instantly melting. I thought about this on days like today in northern Vermont, driving to work on packed fresh snow with an outside temperature of 3 degrees F. Life goes on pretty much as normal.

Hoarding is why I don't object to price-gouging in times of perceived shortages.

 

[mmascari]

I forgot the CDC said it was safe now. We can stop wearing masks. But maybe if another variant comes, they will need to be worn to stop it.

The science changed. I don't want to fight, you seem nice. I trust the CDC 100%. You won't change that. They say we needed masks last week but not this week. And I believe them.

That's not quite what they said. They still recommend masks for lots of scenarios and risk reduction. They changed the metrics around when governments should require masking for public health goals.

In the old metric: New cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days below 50 was required to stop masking. Everything over 100 was High Transmission.

In the new metric: New cases Per 100,000 people in the past 7 days below 200 AND enough hospital capacity is enough to not require masks for public health goals.

Effectively, they've settled on "As long as the hospital isn't overwhelmed, High but not Insane transmission is fine."

That's not the same as not needing masks, it depends on your goals. The public health goal is concerned with hospital capacity and population level impacts here. It doesn't really care about individual personal impacts. They've pushed that decision back to the individual.

For us personally, we're sticking with the older metric. At least when doing stuff with an elevated risk. Outdoor stadium stands, even with lots of people, eh not so much. Poorly ventilated bathroom in same stadium, yes. It's a fluid risk evaluation. Our county is down to 63.77/100K 7 Day. We're low on the new metric, of course, we've always had a large overbuild of hospital capacity.

I noticed the new Community Level tool shows the color for a county, but doesn't show the 3 numbers that get you there.

I see that today, Orange County FL is at 141.30/100K 7 Day on the county map. It's also High on the Community Level map even though 141 is less than 200. Which must mean hospital admissions or inpatient beds metrics are to high. Quick, somebody build a hospital, that will push the last metrics down, if that's the problem one.

 

[drizgirl]

The science changed. I don't want to fight, you seem nice. I trust the CDC 100%.

Unfortunately a lot of people no longer do or will. They used up a lot of blind faith people previously had in them.

 

[drizgirl]

I actually hate hand sanitizers with a roaring passion. Why not wash your hands? Far more effective. There are tons of bathrooms around Disney.

For us, we don’t use them instead of hand washing, but as an adjunct. There isn’t a sink at the end of every attraction like there is a gift shop. Yes, I could make a decision to find a bathroom after each ride, but that’s just not something I’m going to do.

 

[G00fyDad]

I actually hate hand sanitizers with a roaring passion. Why not wash your hands? Far more effective. There are tons of bathrooms around Disney.

They help kill what tiny amount the handwashing doesn't. My wife has to use hand sanitizer constantly at her hospital even though she washes her hands before and after every patient care activity. He hands are so dry sometimes they start cracking on her fingers. Using hand sanitizer then is just torture for her. She has tried everything to moisturizing her hands to keep this from happening. Unfortunately the hospital requires the use of hand sanitizer to help kill what the soap does not.

 

[danlb_2000]

I will understand the meaning of life long before I understand the hoarding of toilet paper. I got lucky and Charmin happened to be on sale at Costco in February 2020. My standard practice was always to purchase enough at the sale price to last until the next sale a few months later. Therefore, I accidentally had enough that I didn't have to go on toilet paper hunts.

It doesn't take much to start a run on a product like that. My situation is a prefect example. I wasn't overly concerned about the toilet paper situation but as it was starting to get bad, I was in the supermarket and saw that the shelves weren't full so I went ahead a bought more then I needed, and my wife independently did the same thing so we inadvertently ended up with a couple month supply. Just the suggestion that there might be a shortage can quickly into a self fulfilling prophecy.

 

[correcaminos]

For us, we don’t use them instead of hand washing, but as an adjunct. There isn’t a sink at the end of every attraction like there is a gift shop. Yes, I could make a decision to find a bathroom after each ride, but that’s just not something I’m going to do.

I understand some people love them. I will use them when I am required to. Otherwise nope, sorry. They cause too much harm to hands to keep doing it. I liked the hand washing stations at my zoo more. And yes, I will totally seek out bathrooms to wash if I feel the need. I know so many who use these instead of. Even in covid times I don't feel the need to wash after every ride. With an exception being the speedway. I will before eating or touching my face though.

They help kill what tiny amount the handwashing doesn't. My wife has to use hand sanitizer constantly at her hospital even though she washes her hands before and after every patient care activity. He hands are so dry sometimes they start cracking on her fingers. Using hand sanitizer then is just torture for her. She has tried everything to moisturizing her hands to keep this from happening. Unfortunately the hospital requires the use of hand sanitizer to help kill what the soap does not.

They're really bad on the hands and for the average person it's not worth it compared to hand washing. Hospitals deal with more. But yeah I hate having to use regularly. The only time I carried pre-covid was when out and using it as a portable liquid when no water is near by. Last time at Disney I used on my tip only after touching a gross feeling finger reader. I hate that those are back.

I just think people put too much faith in this stuff knowing over cleaning is bad in the long run.

 

[danlb_2000]

Good to see a post from you!!!

I share your sentiments. As for the bold, if one thing good can come out of all of this it would be more people practicing better hygiene. If everybody washes their hands frequently and properly and covers coughs and sneezes with their elbow, we'd have a fewer people come down with nuisance illnesses every year and A LOT fewer catching them at WDW.

Especially when it comes to gastrointestinal viruses which tend to be spread more through contact.

 

[Kevin_W]

I actually hate hand sanitizers with a roaring passion. Why not wash your hands? Far more effective. There are tons of bathrooms around Disney.

Not at the exit to a ride. Sure, we would always wash hands in a restroom before eating (or after using the restroom), but that was about it. And I'm sure I touched my face a bunch in-between. I'm happy to have more chances to lower the overall germ count on my hands.

 

[danlb_2000]

I think the TP shortage started with legit shortages. People all of a sudden were staying home. Commercial rolls of TP were going unused and the need for consumer packages of TP skyrocketed. Overnight. From there, I assume it built upon itself and people did what people do when they hear things are in short supply.

Yeah, a lot of the shortages early on were due to how products were consumed more so then a shortage of the product itself. There were some beer and soda shortages because people suddenly shifted to drinking these at home which lead to an aluminum can shortage.

 

[danlb_2000]

Slightly off topic, but I haven't gotten a response in the Universal forum... Is there much at Universal that hasn't returned to a pre-pandemic state?

 

[correcaminos]

Not at the exit to a ride. Sure, we would always wash hands in a restroom before eating (or after using the restroom), but that was about it. And I'm sure I touched my face a bunch in-between. I'm happy to have more chances to lower the overall germ count on my hands.

I get people love them. I'm just one who is against over cleaning. I will use a sink long before I touch the stuff. I have bottles from 2020 I never used up. Sorry should've shut up since I know we're a sanitizing happy world.

 

[lazyboy97o]

When I was at WDW in August I used hand sanitizer continuously since it was so readily available. I know it costs money to supply and labor hours to maintain/fill the machines but it’s worth it if it keeps your guests healthy and spending money. I hope that does become a norm and not just a covid thing. My office had installed hand sanitizers in all the kitchenettes and cafeterias well before covid so I hope they don’t get wrapped up in the “Covid mitigations” category and end up cancelled due to public sentiment against any “restrictions”.

Some of them need to be removed because they were hastily dropped into places in violation of the fire code. You can’t have a few dispensers right next to each other and the ones on stands that Disney used can block the means of egress.

 

[GoofGoof]

Some of them need to be removed because they were hastily dropped into places in violation of the fire code. You can’t have a few dispensers right next to each other and the ones on stands that Disney used can block the means of egress.

If they are going to be permanent the best solution is to mount them on a wall. The ones we have in work are all wall mounted then there’s no issue.

 

[GoofGoof]

I actually hate hand sanitizers with a roaring passion. Why not wash your hands? Far more effective. There are tons of bathrooms around Disney.

I would not replace hand washing with hand sanitizers, its a supplement. Before meals and obviously after using the facilities it’s an actual hand washing including soap (no splash and dash for me). When I got off of ToT and let’s face it I was desperately clinging to the hand bar for the duration of the ride it’s nice to sanitize after. I probably wouldn’t make an extra trip to the restroom at that point unless I was planning to eat something right after.

 

[lazyboy97o]

If they are going to be permanent the best solution is to mount them on a wall. The ones we have in work are all wall mounted then there’s no issue.

There can be issues with wall mounting as well based on how they are placed.