Finally, after months of debate and discussion, it looks as though the state of California is setting guidelines for the reopening of Disneyland. The Anaheim theme park has been fighting to open its gates for quite a while now, especially after Florida’s Walt Disney World was reopened over the summer. On Tuesday, the California government announced that Disneyland would be able to begin operations once again when its county reaches the yellow “minimal” tier of public safety.
In regards to the ongoing battle against COVID-19, California has four different tiers that represent the threat level of the virus at any given time: Purple (widespread), Red (substantial), Orange (Moderate), and Yellow (minimal). Unions fought for Disneyland to be included in the Orange tier of the reopening strategy, but California has decided it belongs in the Yellow tier instead.
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Once Orange County, currently in the Red tier, reaches the Yellow tier, Disneyland and other large theme parks will be able to reopen to 25% capacity. In order for this to happen, the county would need less than 1 new case per 100,000 residents each day, and a positive test rate of less than 2%.
At this time, smaller theme parks are being included in the Orange tier.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s Director of Health and Human Services, said on Tuesday that the state has observed how things were being handled in Florida theme parks to help determine what precautions to take out west. He noted that, while they received excellent guidance on managing lines within the park, “the level of mixing even without masks” was of concern.
Ghaly also noted that, unlike many other states, California hasn’t been seeing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases as of late, which he credited to the state’s slow reopening process. Ghaly considers theme parks to be a “higher risk setting” as opposed to things like outdoor sporting events.
There’s currently no timetable for how long it will take for Orange County to move into the Yellow tier, but it likely won’t be an immediate change. Don’t plan on Disneyland reopening in the very near future.
