Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Kevin_W]

Just an update for the rational, non sensationalist people that realize they're not going to die from touching their mail or living a normal life.

The data is in — stop the panic and end the total isolation

Americans are now desperate for sensible policymakers who have the courage to ignore the panic and rely on facts.

thehill.com

Wow, that is strongly worded.

 

[DisneyDoctor]

I think the CNA thing is hospital dependent and depending on how much staffing your hospital can afford. I will say the nurses at my hospital basically have to do it all. We have no CNAs on our floors. My unit doesn’t even have the money for a secretary. So my nurses do all the secretarial work as well. It was a running joke that secretary’s day which was last week that my nurses should have gotten a present, and one even brought in a cake saying happy secretary’s day for all the nurses to eat. There is a rare PCT (patient care technician which is our version of a CNA) that you can sometime get if you’re unit is getting slammed. But they are rare They are typically already too busy on other units, but that’s not a guarantee.

In my training we had some assistants floating around the floor, but at least in my teaching hospitals the nurses did all the fetching for nearly everything. The joke was that they should gets tips like waitresses. I have found that anecdotally the nursing assistants tend to be found more often in private hospitals with a good payor mix. Hospitals that are losing money don’t seem to have the budget for that.

My wife (nurse) has a love/hate relationship with CNAs. Some are great and help immensely. Some suck and make work more difficult. It’s easy to overlook people who oftentimes make work more difficult for the actual care providers.

 

[eduardz]

So when the government lifts the social distancing and quarantine probably by June on the last phase of the pandemia, does that mean that social distancing is no longer required, doesn't it? So why should we still do social distancing if the government already lifted the lockdown and quarantine?
So why all people are saying to wear masks or open parks 'till we get a vaccine, if that actually could never happen! There are still some very old mortal deseases that do not have a vaccine yet!

For all people saying they won't go to the parks till we get a vaccine, then wait 5 years (in the best scenario) and don't go out of your house since the virus could be anywhere in the air, so please keep your word!

 

[marni1971]

So when the government lifts the social distancing and quarantine probably by June on the last phase of the pandemia, does that mean that social distancing is no longer required

No.

Social distancing and new regulations are expected for quite some time.

 

[Lilofan]

They could just limit flights in or setup mandatory quarantine for anyone arriving and open stuff for the locals (that part is actually easier than any other state except maybe Alaska) but the big problem is so much of the economy in Hawaii revolves around tourism that if you don’t have tourists many of the businesses can’t open and then a lot of people won’t have the money to do much. I guess they can spend their government checks but $1,200 doesn’t get you very far in Hawaii.

I knew a guy who grew up in Hawaii along time ago. He told stories of living off the land going fishing for food, and living off of the fruit trees and vegetables his family grew. Red meat was not a major part of his diet. But $1,200 doesn't go far in HI, that's for sure. Not sure how the cast members who work at Aulani are getting by.

 

[TrojanUSC]

I knew a guy who grew up in Hawaii along time ago. He told stories of living off the land going fishing for food, and living off of the fruit trees and vegetables his family grew. Red meat was not a major part of his diet. But $1,200 doesn't go far in HI, that's for sure. Not sure how the cast members who work at Aulani are getting by.

People keep quoting the $1200 number. That's in addition to the state UI plus the temporary federal benefit. Depending on how much you made at your job, Hawaii state UI is around $648/week in addition to the $600/week. For a lot of the Aulani employees, they likely aren't making any less now - same as the WDW frontline CMs. Obviously the downside is any delay in processing the application, but I'd imagine Hawaii is better equipped than Florida.

 

[Polynesia]

People keep quoting the $1200 number. That's in addition to the state UI plus the temporary federal benefit. Depending on how much you made at your job, Hawaii state UI is around $648/week in addition to the $600/week. For a lot of the Aulani employees, they likely aren't making any less now - same as the WDW frontline CMs. Obviously the downside is any delay in processing the application, but I'd imagine Hawaii is better equipped than Florida.

Plus they’re perhaps more fortunate than the tens of millions of others who’ve been laid off because they still have their health benefits. That can be a real game changer for many. Imagine losing your job and having a family medical emergency without insurance.

 

[Lilofan]

Plus they’re perhaps more fortunate than the tens of millions of others who’ve been laid off because they still have their health benefits. That can be a real game changer for many. Imagine losing your job and having a family medical emergency without insurance.

That's easy to answer. You and I the taxpayers pay for it each and everyday. People with insurance or no insurance go to the hospital ER for medical assistance. By law, the ER cannot turn you away and must treat you. The ER tries to bill the person being treated but not everyone pays their bill.

 

[zengoth]

The Re-Open Florida Task Force has launched a public comment submission portal, and it's open to all Floridians if you want to add your opinions -

Smartsheet.com

app.smartsheet.com

Re-Open Florida Task Force wants to hear from you

You can give feedback on any topic related to the reopening of Florida's economy.

www.wtsp.com

We could just copy/paste this entire thread and save everyone some time
(or, knowing the problems florida has with its websites, it could crash the whole thing...)

 

[Polynesia]

That's easy to answer. You and I the taxpayers pay for it each and everyday. People with insurance or no insurance go to the hospital ER for medical assistance. By law, the ER cannot turn you away and must treat you. The ER tries to bill the person being treated but not everyone pays their bill.

I already knew that as my spouse works at a hospital. But that doesn’t stop the hospital from billing them and reporting them for non payment ruining their credit score. That starts a cycle of not being able to buy a house, a car or qualify to rent. I’m sure every cast member is grateful to be insured.

 

[Lilofan]

I already knew that as my spouse works at a hospital. But that doesn’t stop the hospital from billing them and reporting them for non payment ruining their credit score. That starts a cycle of not being able to buy a house, a car or qualify to rent. I’m sure every cast member is grateful to be insured.

Doesn't stop many ( some I know who have no regrets ) of not even concerned about going to the ER for anything from an emergency visit or just treating the ER as their personal doctor at taxpayer expense. Not able to qualify for rent? That's a fallacy. Not able to buy a used car? Paying cash and no questions asked.

 

[John park hopper]

Doesn't stop many ( some I know who have no regrets ) of not even concerned about going to the ER for anything from an emergency visit or just treating the ER as their personal doctor at taxpayer expense. Not able to qualify for rent? That's a fallacy.

My wife worked ER as a nurse for years the stories she would come home with. You are correct many used it as their personal doctor and would come in time after time for things you or I would treat at home. Dump money in the snack machine and then want free aspirin when told to pick it up at Walmart ---"I can't afford to buy it at Walmart"

 

[nickys]

Overseas is way ahead with contactless payment. If they’re requiring MB’s then the app is a close second, and by this point if you cannot get an NFC enabled card that phone you need likely has a mobile wallet solution. Tap-to-pat with cards and phones does not require a PIN, and I believe the MagicBands originally did not have a PIN (or a limit or something I don’t remember).

The problem for international guests is the minimum foreign transaction fees on our bank cards. In the U.K. the fee is usually 3% or a min of £3 ($3.75). Imagine paying for a Mickey bar or bottle of soda and having almost $4 added on. There are some pre-paid cards that we can load in $US and avoid the fee, but not all of them allow contactless.

 

[nickys]

Could be interesting if they got it working for contact tracing. I don’t think they will do that but in theory it would greatly reduce the problem of someone getting infected at WDW then going home and spreading it further and also limit the impact from a CM getting infected being asymptomatic and then spreading it to other CMs or guests. If it worked similar to the phone apps it could all be anonymous and you would only receive a notification if you crossed paths with someone at WDW who was infected. I guess they would need CMs to wear bands too. Pretty unique circumstances with WDW having the tech to actually do this.

The reason I don’t think they will actually do this is they don’t want to have to contact people and tell them they could have been infected at WDW. Not very magical and also opens the door to liability, especially if it’s a CM that’s positive. Another reason is it highlights the tracking power of the system and they don‘t want to remind people they are tracking you. The final reason is they don’t have bands anywhere else, especially DLR. I expect their response to be somewhat uniform across parks. Again, limits liability.

It wouldn’t really stop you going home and spreading it though, because by the time you were notified you’d likely already be home and have been spreading it. Or you’d get notified but still have to get home, even if you then isolated as advised.

Which is the biggest problem with contact tracing - by the time person A realises they have symptoms, even if they immediately register the fact, they have already been in contact with potentially hundreds of people.

 

[GoofGoof]

So when the government lifts the social distancing and quarantine probably by June on the last phase of the pandemia, does that mean that social distancing is no longer required, doesn't it? So why should we still do social distancing if the government already lifted the lockdown and quarantine?
So why all people are saying to wear masks or open parks 'till we get a vaccine, if that actually could never happen! There are still some very old mortal deseases that do not have a vaccine yet!

For all people saying they won't go to the parks till we get a vaccine, then wait 5 years (in the best scenario) and don't go out of your house since the virus could be anywhere in the air, so please keep your word!

Social distancing is different than stay at home orders. In the May/June timeframe most states will move into the first phase of re-opening which in most cases will involve lifting the stay at home orders and slowly starting to re-open some non-essential businesses. In PA where I live the equivalent of phase 1 includes opening some non-essential businesses under strict social distancing. Retail stores will be required to still limit the number of customers in and masks will be recommended. Construction work, elective medical procedures and office buildings will be allowed to re-open but businesses have to follow rules on social distancing and other recommendations. Restaurants and bars are still take out or delivery only and public gatherings are still banned. In the next phase restaurants and bars re-open under capacity limitations some public gatherings are allowed but still with a limit on people and some additional requirements for other businesses are loosened. It’s not until the final phase that social distancing is lifted. Although the federal guidelines say at a minimum 2 weeks between phases it will be up to the states to decide how long based on case load. FL and CA still haven‘t announced formal plans but they should have them out soon.

As far as WDW there was a post from an insider on the other thread laying out some of the requirements if the parks were to open in phase 2. The international parks are already looking at setting up social distancing for queues, temp checks at the gates and other new safety protocols. Universal sent out a lengthy survey asking about a lot of the same steps they are considering. If Disney and Universal want to open their parks in June I don’t see how there is not some kind of social distancing involved. They could wait until we are well into phase 3 to open, but that may not even be this summer. I think it’s unlikely that WDW waits until the fall or the end of the year to open without social distancing. They will likely open sooner with an alternate experience plan like the ones discussed here.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I disagree, but that is OK. I highly respect your input on these forums, but I know we don't always agree on all topics.

I think social distancing will be a distant memory before the end of this calendar year. It's not practical in everyday life - in the workplace, entertainment, eating out, etc. And by practical I mean both economically (many business cannot survive with limited capacity) and socially. We are social creatures and maintaining distance is so uncomfortable for many. I think we will revert to wanting to be close to others.
Disney and other entertainment venues rely on large crowds, not separated by distance, to operate profitably. And, social distancing on transportation just cannot work. Mass transit would not be "mass" with social distancing. Airlines would go out of business if they had to operate with fewer seats.

While the world may re-open with social distancing, I think that will be temporary.

I can’t speak for “the world”, but as an American, I tend to agree with your assessment in the USA. People are already reaching their limits here. Suddenly, this weekend, I’m seeing friends getting together without masks. Americans don’t really do what they’re told without first deciding it’s necessary. I understand some European nations are like this too, but their governments are more willing to stand up against them. But, this cannot continue much longer. The situation is starting to deteriorate in places like France and Italy.

Epidemiologists are very smart when it comes to controlling disease spread, but they don’t know how to actually run society. They think everyone should get a flu shot. But not everyone wants to. So they dial it back and say, “ok, just these high-risk groups then.” I expect the Covid-19 long-term strategy to mirror this. Mandatory changes are heavily resisted in America. Already, with something as simple as masks, you see resistance with people screaming, “not my child with X disease! You can’t discriminate against us! Mason is only happy at Disney World! ADA! ACLU! ASPCA!”

 

[GoofGoof]

It wouldn’t really stop you going home and spreading it though, because by the time you were notified you’d likely already be home and have been spreading it. Or you’d get notified but still have to get home, even if you then isolated as advised.

Which is the biggest problem with contact tracing - by the time person A realises they have symptoms, even if they immediately register the fact, they have already been in contact with potentially hundreds of people.

Agreed. That’s why the smart phone app works better because it extends outside of the bubble. If you come in contact with an asymptomatic spreader and you get sick with symptoms that spreader will be alerted due to the contact with you and they then get tested. It doesn’t reverse any spread that happened prior to your contact but it cuts off the spread at that point. An asymptomatic person would have no reason to be tested unless they were contacted and told to.

 

[GoofGoof]

I disagree, but that is OK. I highly respect your input on these forums, but I know we don't always agree on all topics.

I think social distancing will be a distant memory before the end of this calendar year. It's not practical in everyday life - in the workplace, entertainment, eating out, etc. And by practical I mean both economically (many business cannot survive with limited capacity) and socially. We are social creatures and maintaining distance is so uncomfortable for many. I think we will revert to wanting to be close to others.
Disney and other entertainment venues rely on large crowds, not separated by distance, to operate profitably. And, social distancing on transportation just cannot work. Mass transit would not be "mass" with social distancing. Airlines would go out of business if they had to operate with fewer seats.

While the world may re-open with social distancing, I think that will be temporary.

When schools go back in the fall most of the social distancing goes out the window. It’s pretty much impossible to do it at schools even if you could get the kids to listen. I do think it will be with us to some extent for the summer. It makes no sense to go from stay at home straight to no social distancing. It’s smart to go slow. You can’t undo a bad decision.

 

[marni1971]

I think social distancing will be a distant memory before the end of this calendar year..

I wish you were right.

 

[xdan0920]

I can’t speak for “the world”, but as an American, I tend to agree with your assessment in the USA. People are already reaching their limits here. Suddenly, this weekend, I’m seeing friends getting together without masks. Americans don’t really do what they’re told without first deciding it’s necessary. I understand some European nations are like this too, but their governments are more willing to stand up against them. But, this cannot continue much longer. The situation is starting to deteriorate in places like France and Italy.

Epidemiologists are very smart when it comes to controlling disease spread, but they don’t know how to actually run society. They think everyone should get a flu shot. But not everyone wants to. So they dial it back and say, “ok, just these high-risk groups then.” I expect the Covid-19 long-term strategy to mirror this. Mandatory changes are heavily resisted in America. Already, with something as simple as masks, you see resistance with people screaming, “not my child with X disease! You can’t discriminate against us! Mason is only happy at Disney World! ADA! ACLU! ASPCA!”

Yesterday in NJ it was 60s and sunny, and people were out there. The social distancing is definitely starting to relax, I saw more multigenerational gatherings then I have seen in a month combined.

Here’s my theory on why.....

In NJ we are being told we have to keep this way of life going for several weeks, and we have heard that message for several weeks already. Well, when there’s no leadership, and no plan in place to take us out of this, people will just start to take it into their own hands.

It’s starting to reach a boiling point here, and unless there’s a clear plan soon, people are going to simply start ignoring the rules in place completely.