Disneyland Shanghai Shuts Down Due to Rising Omicron COVID-19 Surge

In a headline reminiscent of the earliest days of the pandemic, Shanghai Disneyland is temporarily shutting its doors once again due to rising COVID-19 cases in the Middle Kingdom. Monday local time, Disney announced its entire Shanghai park would be shutting down until further notice. The closure affects Shanghai Disneyland, its Disneytown shopping and dining stores, and Wishing Star Park.

Over the weekend, Chinese officials reported upwards of 1,600 new COVID cases, compared to roughly 70 daily earlier this month.

"We will continue to monitor the pandemic situation and consult local authorities, and will notify guests as soon as we have a confirmed date to resume operations," Disney offered in a statement announcing the closure.

Stateside, Disney parks are operating at levels seen prior to the pandemic. Last month, Disney World announced a change to its mask policy, making it optional for both indoors and outdoors for vaccinated guests. Prior to that, masks were required in such environments, regardless of vaccination status.

"Yeah, I won't specifically comment on whether we anticipate getting to 2019 revenues by 2022. But I will tell you what our expectations are in terms of the state of the world by then," Disney boss Bob Chapek previously explained. "We have no doubt, and when we reopen up in parks that were closed or increase the capacity, that we'll have some level of social distancing and mask-wearing for the remainder of this year. That's our expectation. But, I believe that Dr. Fauci said earlier today that he hopes that there are vaccines for everyone who wants them by April this year. If that happens, that is a game-changer."

He added, "And that could accelerate our expectations, and give people the confidence that they need to come back to the parks. Will there be overlap until we know that we have herd immunity? Sure there will. But do we believe we'll be in the same state of 6-foot social distance and mask-wearing in 22? Absolutely not"