First, my apologies for the long post. I sincerely hope none of what I say comes across as being a personal attack or criticism. Communicating intent clearly in written format is notoriously difficult and I don't want my intentions here misconstrued.
Aren’t crowd prediction calendars completely irrelevant now?
Anyone seeing the news in Europe? This is not “ending”...
...sorry to ruin Christmas for everyone.
Somewhat inaccurate for the current situation maybe, but not completely without value.
I have seen what is happening in Europe (and other places around the world for that matter). It is tragic and scary and I hate that numbers are going up when it seemed things were being managed as best they could be for so long. I don't think most people really believe this pandemic is "ending" any time soon; the virus may never truly go away entirely. But that doesn't mean I'm going to put my entire life on hold indefinitely.
In fact, it is BECAUSE my husband and I feel this virus will be with us for quite a while that we made plans the way we did. We are going to do the best we can with the situation at hand. Like many, we have children who are at an age that we don't have a lot of years left to plan family vacations as a full group. I'm hoping for the best (that we get to spend a wonderful week at WDW with a grandparent), but also prepared as best I can be for the worst (we don't go on vacation and end up staying home). If the time for our trip draws near and we don't feel the situation is safe enough for our comfort, we will cancel and try to reschedule our trip for another time.
Living life comes with inherent risks of varying degrees, depending on the choices we make at any given time. In our case, trying to take a vacation at a location we feel is doing everything it can to keep visitors as safe as possible is worth the increased risk vs staying home and going about our day-to-day activities. I can think of no other place we might go where visitors are required to mask up consistently and that is so diligent about sanitizing throughout the day. I would feel safer visiting WDW than eating at certain restaurants in my area, some of which do not require their employees, who are making and serving my food, to wear masks properly and consistently.
I recognize and respect others for deciding what their level of acceptable risk is in their own lives. I also appreciate that there are opportunities for those of us who would like to.
For the record, everyone in my household wears masks any time we're out in public. We do not partake in indoor dining (with the exception of myself and only at one particular restaurant that I have observed acting with customer and employee safety in mind 100% of the time). We don't engage in indoor recreation outside our home. We do not allow our children to visit their friends inside other people's homes, nor allow other people in our own except when necessary, and then only for very short periods of time and only with masks worn at all times. We are doing everything we can to mitigate the risk of infection on our end, but I'm not willing to plan my future as if this will be our reality forever.
