Florida, United States – Despite the Covid-19 surge, Walt Disney World Resort is set to reopen in Florida.
The resort was first closed in March during the early months of America’s outbreak. Although infections were largely spreading in New York and California at first, Florida is now among the several states recording a rise in cases in the past weeks.
Despite the daily surge, the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom of the resort was reopened on July 11 and the Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are expected to reopen on July 15th.
Disney has taken preventive measures such as visitors having to wear masks, limiting the number of tickets being sold, checking temperature, cancelling firework shows and parades to prevent mass gatherings and hand sanitizers were also available widely to prevent the virus from spreading.
Over a quarter of a million cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Florida with 4,197 deaths.
Among these confirmed cases, the country where the resort is based, Orange County has reported 16,630 cases, which is the among the highest number of cases in Florida.
For this reason, many cities and counties of Florida have reinstated restriction that were lifted in May, when the number of confirmed cases began to decrease.
Despite the outbreak, hundreds of people have made their way to Disney flagship resort on Saturday.
Disney’s theme park chairman, Josh D’Amaro, said in an interview with the New York Times that while the world is changing around us, they believe that they can open the resort safely and responsibly.
“Covid is here, and we have a responsibility to figure out the best approach to safely operate in this new normal”
