By TREVIN BRANDT
Staff Writer
It has been over six months since the Covid-19 pandemic took the United States by storm. Theme parks, restaurants, sporting events and schools were forced to shut down for the sake of our health and safety. Since then, some businesses have slowly begun to reopen safely under guidelines set by California governor Gavin Newsom. Restaurants have outdoor seating available, sports are able to continue without an audience and schools have found their temporary home on zoom. But what about theme parks? Gavin Newsom has left the entertainment industry in the dust for the time being since they are not essential business. As a result, the city of Anaheim has not been doing well economically for six months. The small business owners that have experienced a dramatic loss in customers are struggling to keep the lights on every day.
Florida theme parks were given guidelines in the early summer and reopened to the public in July with limited capacity, heavy social distancing measures and a strict mask policy. Despite Florida having more cases per one million people than California, the governor is allowing the theme parks to operate during this heavy time in history. This is most likely due to the politicalization of the virus. For the most part, Republicans are more willing to reopen businesses for the economy’s sake while Democrats want to keep them closed for the sake of our health. Florida governor Ron DeSantis is a Republican while California governor Gavin Newsom is a Democrat. The politicalization of the virus makes it hard to figure out an objective frame of when it is safe to reopen. According to ncov2019.live, California has about 20,000 cases per one million people while Florida has about 32,000. If Florida is doing worse and is allowed to have theme parks open, why can’t California open theirs?
Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidu gave an emotional press conference last week demanding theme park guidelines from the state because in his words, “It is a disaster right here! All of the businesses are closed here. How long are you gonna keep us closed?” Without guidelines from the state Disneyland, Six Flags, Universal, and Knotts Berry farm cannot operate. Gavin Newsom has stated that he is working with theme parks on pinning some reopening guidelines in accordance with what the CDC recommends. Disney has made it clear that they are ready to reopen whenever these guidelines are given. Observers of the area have noticed social distancing markings on the ground of the entrance to the park and sneeze guards installed at the turnstiles. With these preparations intact, it seems as if the only thing theme parks are waiting for is guidelines from the state. At the end of his speech, Harry Sidu stated that after guidelines are released, Disney would need six weeks of preparation before reopening despite their efforts at the moment.
Under the assumption that Gavin Newsom will release guidelines very soon like he has stated, it is possible that we will see the opening of Disneyland, Universal Studios, and Magic Mountain within the next two or three months. But one can only hope that the guidelines stay intact. Disneyland was scheduled to reopen on July 17th before Newsom pulled the plug after a large uptick in cases at the beginning of the month. But it is worth noting Ron DeSantis stated late last month that not a single case has been traced back to any of Orlando’s theme parks. In fact, Florida’s cases have constantly decreased since July. This gives optimism for the California theme parks that are desperately ready to reopen.