Stores and restaurants re-closing due to COVID

[disneysteve]

Apple announced today that they are re-closing some of their stores in Florida, Arizona, and North and South Carolina due to spikes in COVID cases.

A few days ago, Myrtle Beach, SC posted a list of restaurants that were re-closing due to employees coming down with COVID since Memorial Day weekend.

I strongly suspect we're going to see more such stories as COVID continues to climb in nearly half of the states in the country. Florida is seeing their highest caseload yet as are several other states. The travel advisory at my job was updated yesterday to include Florida, Texas, Arizona, North and South Carolina, Louisiana, and Alabama.

[james.hendrickson]

There have to be financial opportunities around this. Selling masks? Covid clean up services?

[disneysteve]

There have to be financial opportunities around this. Selling masks? Covid clean up services?

Certainly both of those have become big things. I know tons of people personally who are making and selling masks and pretty much every retailer from Target and Walmart to Vera Bradley and Coach are now selling masks. I also know of a couple of local cleaning companies that are going nuts with COVID services.

My point, however, was that the economic impact is far from over. Places that have started to reopen are finding themselves having to close again because a lot of the reopening was premature. It was done for economic and political reasons rather than science-based.

Disney World is scheduled to begin reopening the parks in 3 weeks, but Florida is rapidly becoming the COVID epicenter of the US. How realistic will it be to reopen a major venue like that as scheduled if the virus situation continues to worsen between now and then?

[james.hendrickson]

Certainly both of those have become big things. I know tons of people personally who are making and selling masks and pretty much every retailer from Target and Walmart to Vera Bradley and Coach are now selling masks. I also know of a couple of local cleaning companies that are going nuts with COVID services.

My point, however, was that the economic impact is far from over. Places that have started to reopen are finding themselves having to close again because a lot of the reopening was premature. It was done for economic and political reasons rather than science-based.

Disney World is scheduled to begin reopening the parks in 3 weeks, but Florida is rapidly becoming the COVID epicenter of the US. How realistic will it be to reopen a major venue like that as scheduled if the virus situation continues to worsen between now and then?

Boy - its been a heck of a spring and summer. First Covid, then protests/riots, now more covid. Whats next? A recession?

[disneysteve]

Boy - its been a heck of a spring and summer. First Covid, then protests/riots, now more covid. Whats next? A recession?

Well, COVID never went away. It’s called a wave for a reason. It began strongest in NYC and has steadily been rippling across the country.

And we are already in a recession. The question now is how long it will last and what the recovery will look like.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Gila River casino in AZ reclosed due to employee death. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...se/3214335001/

[QuarterMillionMan]

In Los Angeles people are asking governor Gavin Newsom to stop Disneyland reopening in July saying there is no need to rush it. I say reopen with safety measures and let the customers decide.

My question to anyone, will you patronize dine in restaurants? I won't feel safe for another 3 or 4 months. I'm in it for the long haul.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Dallas woman tests positive twice. https://people.com/health/dallas-wom...mpression=true

[Like2Plan]

In Los Angeles people are asking governor Gavin Newsom to stop Disneyland reopening in July saying there is no need to rush it. I say reopen with safety measures and let the customers decide.

My question to anyone, will you patronize dine in restaurants? I won't feel safe for another 3 or 4 months. I'm in it for the long haul.

I was pretty surprised at the planned July reopening for Disneyland--just in time for the 65th anniversary. They are opening the parks before the hotels which is just the opposite of Disney World. But, I think the plan still has to be approved by the Governor?

Honestly, I don't know if I will feel safe going to a restaurant even in 3 or 4 months without a safe, proven vaccine. I think it will be the take out option for DH and I for a while. Right now, my big hope is that they can get more contact tracing and quarantine of individuals who are infected plus more folks wearing masks to at least "try" to reduce the spread of asymptomatic cases. Social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands are about the only tools we have available to us.

[disneysteve]

In Los Angeles people are asking governor Gavin Newsom to stop Disneyland reopening in July saying there is no need to rush it. I say reopen with safety measures and let the customers decide.

My question to anyone, will you patronize dine in restaurants? I won't feel safe for another 3 or 4 months. I'm in it for the long haul.

Once it has been deemed safe for a business to reopen, it's certainly up to the customer to decide whether or not to return. But the reopening decision itself needs to be based on science and facts, not personal opinion or economic concerns.

If the LA area is experiencing a spike in COVID cases, reopening Disneyland on 7/17 might be premature, but it's probably a little too soon to know.

As for dining, no, we don't plan to dine in anytime soon. We might venture somewhere for outdoor dining in the next week or so weather permitting. It's supposed to be hot with chance of storms all week so maybe not. I have no desire to eat outside if it's 80+ degrees and humid and obviously not if we might get rained on. Outdoor dining can be nice in the spring or fall but not in the summer. My wife also has allergies so we rarely dine outside anyway.

I was pretty surprised at the planned July reopening for Disneyland--just in time for the 65th anniversary. They are opening the parks before the hotels which is just the opposite of Disney World.

I'm not at all surprised that they're opening the parks first. Disneyland is primarily a locals park unlike Disney World which depends mainly on tourists.

[disneysteve]

Dallas woman tests positive twice. https://people.com/health/dallas-wom...mpression=true

And this is a big problem at this point. We don't yet know enough about the disease, recovery, antibodies, immunity, etc. We don't know if having it once makes you immune, and if it does, we don't know for how long. There's a lot of talk about a vaccine but that may not exist until sometime in 2021 or later, or possibly not at all if it turns out that having antibodies doesn't protect you from infection.

The single most important thing everyone needs to do is wear a mask. Unfortunately, as we've discussed in other threads, wearing masks has been greatly politicized so it's become almost a badge of honor for some people to refuse to wear them. Thankfully, I live in a strongly Democratic area and mask compliance is very high here, but I have friends and family in strongly Republican areas who are reporting that mask usage is practically non-existent.

[Like2Plan]

I'm not at all surprised that they're opening the parks first. Disneyland is primarily a locals park unlike Disney World which depends mainly on tourists.

I think more than anything it has to do with the 65th anniversary. Getting it open by that deadline.

[disneysteve]

I think more than anything it has to do with the 65th anniversary. Getting it open by that deadline.

That date is meaningful but there's no reason at least one of the hotels couldn't have also opened if they wanted to assuming that was allowed under local guidelines. Their clientele is 80% locals so the hotels aren't nearly as important to the park business as they are in Florida where 80+% of guests are tourists.

Disney World is also structuring the reopening around resort guests with them being the ones allowed to make park reservations. Disneyland wouldn't work that way since, again, the majority of guests don't stay in one of their hotels.

[Like2Plan]

That date is meaningful but there's no reason at least one of the hotels couldn't have also opened if they wanted to assuming that was allowed under local guidelines. Their clientele is 80% locals so the hotels aren't nearly as important to the park business as they are in Florida where 80+% of guests are tourists.

Disney World is also structuring the reopening around resort guests with them being the ones allowed to make park reservations. Disneyland wouldn't work that way since, again, the majority of guests don't stay in one of their hotels.

I have no doubt they will have more than enough folks for the theme parks. But, I had read earlier that the theme parks would open as part of phase 4 and I don't think they are there, yet--especially with the number of new cases CA has been having. So, I don't know what has changed, but it feels (to me, anyway) like they have just thrown together this opening plan.

[disneysteve]

I have no doubt they will have more than enough folks for the theme parks. But, I had read earlier that the theme parks would open as part of phase 4 and I don't think they are there, yet--especially with the number of new cases CA has been having. So, I don't know what has changed, but it feels (to me, anyway) like they have just thrown together this opening plan.

It's always possible the governor could shoot down the reopening plan, especially if the caseload spikes up.