On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a surprising reversal in its guidance about who should be tested for COVID-19. After weeks of encouraging those who may have been exposed to the coronavirus but are not showing symptoms to get tested, the CDC announced on Wednesday that new guidelines suggest that asymptomatic people may not need to be tested at all. The unexpected shift raised concern and questions among many and that includes Disney Chairman Bob Iger.
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Iger took to Twitter on Wednesday night to call the shift in guidelines “horrifying”.
“This is more than disappointing,” Iger wrote. “It is horrifying.”
This is more than disappointing. It is horrifying. https://t.co/woLIQBepy7
— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) August 27, 2020
While it may seem unusual for someone like Iger to have an opinion about the CDC’s latest guidance, it’s not completely surprising. Back in April, Iger was one of the dozens of Californian leaders named to Governor Gavin Newsom’s business recovery task force, a group put in place to help lead the state out of the economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
And the pandemic has had devastating economic impact, not just in California, but across the country and Disney has not been immune. Just last week it was reported that attendance at Walt Disney World is down nearly 80-percent compared to a similar time in years past. The theme park has beefed up its safety protocols in response to pandemic in what Disney parks boss Josh D’Amaro called a “new norm”.
“We are in a new normal right now, so what’s happening outside of the gates of Walt Disney World is our new world,” D’Amaro said. “I think you know we were one of the first theme parks to close, and we’ll be about the last to open. And we spent every minute of every day thinking about how to operate in this new normal that we’re in.”
“I’m exceptionally proud of this group in terms of what they’ve put together from a protocol perspective and being able to open in a phased and really responsible way,” he added. “I had a chance to walk Main Street just a few minutes ago. It feels really good in the park. So yeah, the world is a different place, but we feel really prepared to operate in this new environment that we’re in.”
What do you think about Iger’s comments regarding the new CDC guidelines? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Cover photo: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney
