COVID-19 & Coasters: Coronavirus Impacts on the Amusement Industry

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Also they are only wiping one or two cars per cycle soooo...

I think that the lack of bins could be related to this as well, but as of right now they wont even let you bring drinks in the queue
 
VonDerrick said:
Especially considering its already been stressed by health officials you can't get the virus from surfaces, only through droplets that people cough out.
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Yeah, you would literally have to lick a doorknob within an hour or two after an infected person touched it to catch it, and even then it's not guaranteed you would get symptoms
 
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Went to SeaWorld today. Trains being wiped down still. Handrails also being wiped between every cycle for some rides too. All employees have gloves too.
 
Because I am seeing misinformation in this thread, here is the current, official CDC assessment of how one can contract COVID-19. While it is not as likely to get the virus from surfaces, touching your nose, mouth, or eyes after you have touched an infected surface could cause transmission. I don’t think people should either over or underestimate the risk.

Source:
www.cdc.gov

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Transmission

COVID-19 is most often spread from person to person among close contacts.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov

How COVID-19 Spreads
Person-to-person spread
The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.

  • Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
  • Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

Can someone spread the virus without being sick?
  • People are thought to be most contagious when they are most symptomatic (the sickest).
  • Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms; there have been reports of this occurring with this new coronavirus, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.
Spread from contact with infected surfaces or objects
It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

How easily the virus spreads
How easily a virus spreads from person-to-person can vary. Some viruses are highly contagious (spread easily), like measles, while other viruses do not spread as easily. Another factor is whether the spread is sustained, spreading continually without stopping.

The virus that causes COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community (“community spread”) in some affected geographic areas.
 
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Seems like anyone coughing needs to be denied entry to the park or escorted out if they are already in the park. Of course they should be provided vouchers and such to return on another day when they are symptom free.
 
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Nicole said:
I think that might be overreacting. People have respiratory symptoms for a wide variety of reasons, including dry air and allergies.
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Exactly!

It's a ridiculous overreach!

I get bronchospasms and easily cough just from drinking a cold beverage or eating ice cream. It doesn't mean I'm carrying Ebola and will give it to everybody in the park!
 
They trace so much as a single case through a park, it’s going to be shut down for complete sanitizing and may not reopen quickly.

All the parks will have little choice between draconian operational measures or shutdown for several weeks. Unfortunately I believe the shut downs will be the more likely case.
 
If a person “seen coughing” in the park turns out to have it, then the park will have to do whatever they’d do for a confirmed case anyway. A “coughing means you’re physically thrown out” policy wouldn’t change that one bit.

If you guess wrong, which you’d end up doing constantly, then you’ll have pissed off dozens or hundreds of guests per day, created an insane full-day spectacle of healthy people being marched to their cars and followed off the property, and changed essentially nothing about the spread of the disease.

If you guess right, they’re already there and OMG CONTAMINATION PROTOCOL will go into effect anyway. Everybody panic.

And then you have the asymptomatic people, of which there are a lot. Better throw out the healthy people too. Now your policy had become a rule to shut down everything when there is no need.

If the US situation does become one of large scale shutdowns, ejecting people who looked slightly nauseous and sneezed at the sun upon emerging from Battle for Eire will have done exactly zero to slow the disease’s spread.
 
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I’m turning this discussion into a “mega-thread” of sorts for Coronavirus stories from across the industry. Park-specific threads may still be justified for more dramatic impacts like extended full-park closures or similar (see Disney park closures thread). When in doubt though, most amusement industry Coronavirus news should go here. We can always split this discussion as needed if specific topics gain a lot of traction.


Anyway, WDWNT (via BBC) is reporting this morning that there’s a confirmed case of a Disneyland Paris cast member coming down with the virus. I have to imagine that this is the type of story the Walt Disney company has been dreading. Thank goodness that it wasn’t a public-facing cast member, but I’m sure that distinction will be lost on the average consumer.

wdwnt.com

Disneyland Paris Cast Member Tests Positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19) - WDWNT

A daily-updated resource for news and information on the Disney resort around the world.
wdwnt.com wdwnt.com
 
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The reason rides are being wiped down even though the reports are saying you can’t pass it through transmission on surfaces is on a coaster for example, the person before you grabbed the lap bar in the exact same spot as you only seconds before you. Also think about how many times you ride a ride on a cooler day and the winds literally have you with your eyes watering. What do you do but take your hand from the lap bar right to your face.

While I don’t agree that a cough is enough to exclude you from a park I do believe thermal scans or forehead temperature readings could be done.
 
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WDWRLD said:
The reason rides are being wiped down even though the reports are saying you can’t pass it through transmission on surfaces is on a coaster for example, the person before you grabbed the lap bar in the exact same spot as you only seconds before you. Also think about how many times you ride a ride on a cooler day and the winds literally have you with your eyes watering. What do you do but take your hand from the lap bar right to your face.

While I don’t agree that a cough is enough to exclude you from a park I do believe thermal scans or forehead temperature readings could be done.
Click to expand...

The virus can be transmitted on surfaces, though it's not the primary method. Someone can cough on a surface, another person(s) touches it, and then touches their mouth/nose/eyes and transmit it.

The bigger issue is someone coughing can push the virus 6 feet away. At amusement parks people are in close proximity both on the rides and in line. If a guest has a cough, and it's not from a known condition, they need to stay away from the parks.
 
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Thomas said:
For free? Sounds like socialized medicine to me.
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Let the free market decide. $3,000 sounds reasonable.

Or run the parks like US hospitals: the test is free, but gate admission is a thousand bucks.

At this point, the disease is going to spread and IMO nothing can really stop that. The administration's response was a pathetic joke that prioritized temporary market performance over public safety and human lives; advisory recommendations have no real teeth for the voluntarily non-compliant demographic of the public; and even a perfectly observant public can't self-isolate every human from every other human, so asymptomatic people will continue to spread the disease faster than it can be contained post-symptoms.

Imagine if the Ebola response had gone as badly, a handful of years ago. I miss the real CDC.
 
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WDWRLD said:
While I don’t agree that a cough is enough to exclude you from a park I do believe thermal scans or forehead temperature readings could be done.
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But if they do this they need to use medical grade thermometers that are designed for this purpose and not industrial ones that have a wide temp measuring range and generally are not as accurate.
 
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