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Considering HP, CP, KI and others are open with well over 5000 at a time and none have had known breakouts, I’m not sure this is a major issue for expanding capacity. I know Hershey’s mask policing on busy Saturdays is almost futile, but they haven’t had issues, though they enforce it around rides and stores well which protects employees.

IMO based on reports, mask wearing in the open outdoor areas is largely superfluous due to the open air and sunlight. I’d be much more concerned that they focus their effort and resources on close contact and indoor spaces, vice walkways and other low risk areas.

At this moment, it's true that there have been no instances of "superspreader" events that took place outdoors, and thus far no specific reports of anyone contracting COVID-19 at a theme park. That should certainly give people some confidence to visit the parks.

But the country's approach to contact tracing means we have nowhere near enough information to rule out the possibility that someone infected another person at a theme park, and while outdoor transmission is less likely it's still possible, in particular with asymptomatic, younger people who are often identified as the worst at social distancing and mask wearing in lines and other areas. The more people you let into the park, the higher the risk becomes of these systems breaking down, and all it takes is one asymptomatic spreader to create a potential disaster both for public health and the park's image.

Right now, BGW is comfortable with honestly pretty minimal enforcement, but with a small enough group of people that distancing is fairly easy, and with compliance levels that seem better than parks in other states due to Virginia's longer period with a mask mandate. But they will become less comfortable if higher numbers increase those "risk moments," both in terms of hits to their reputation and a potential for the state to limit their ability to open at all. I know they want more capacity, but they need to approach this gradually for the sake of managing the precarity of operations, and the balance of expansion/enforcement that will be an issue until there's a vaccine.
 
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Most places it will spread, it happened quickly - bars, universities, meat plants, etc. The places where it hasn’t spread just haven’t and it’s due to the nature of their design and people interaction. Theme parks are largely in the latter category so long as they make careful operating considerations and choices - e.g. no indoor theaters.
 
Myth: You don't need to wear a mask outside.

Fact: At this time, being outside is generally considered safer than being inside. When taking a stroll or participating in other outdoor activities by yourself or with people you live with, a mask isn't required.

However, when you find it difficult to maintain at least six feet of distance from people you don't live with – such as passing someone on a sidewalk or eating out at a restaurant – it's important to have your mask on. You should always have your mask on hand when you leave your home.

 
For what its worth, this is what they use at SeaWorld Orlando and presumably BGW if you want to see the ingredients that make it up.
Yup yup...and they are doing great right now

 
Myth: You don't need to wear a mask outside.

Fact: At this time, being outside is generally considered safer than being inside. When taking a stroll or participating in other outdoor activities by yourself or with people you live with, a mask isn't required.

However, when you find it difficult to maintain at least six feet of distance from people you don't live with – such as passing someone on a sidewalk or eating out at a restaurant – it's important to have your mask on. You should always have your mask on hand when you leave your home.

There's no question this is true, but I do think that the general science surrounding a lack of evidence of outdoor transmission being common is a part of why BGW's enforcement has been so lax: they've set rules that are above state guidance, they're put signs everywhere reinforcing those rules, they enforce the rules when anyone goes on an attraction (the coasters/Finnegan's at least, Le Catapult has been "hit et miss"), and there's the signs reminding us that be coming to the event we agree that BGW isn't liable for us catching COVID on their premises. The reason they're not crossing the rubicon of intense enforcement—either spending for upped security or asking employees to enforce—is because those are paths of resistance, and they're content with how a combination of science and the national position on corporate liability regarding COVID leaves them on the issue.
 
Who else got a survey from BGW on coming to the park and the questions were heavily based around wearing masks.
 
Got screenshots? I think it's probably the same one SEAS has been sending out to people at all of their parks for months now—I just got one from SeaWorld Orlando the other day.
 
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FWIW anywhere you go with tickets is doing this right now. My doctor did it, Maymont did it, Monticello did it, and Blenheim Vineyard did it. All these places are trying to gather information on how guests are perceiving their measures to keep guests safe.
 
How long has BGW been doing these mini-events and does anyone know if there have been any outbreaks related to BGW being open? If none have been traced back to it, looks like they maybe doing somethings right?
 
How long has BGW been doing these mini-events and does anyone know if there have been any outbreaks related to BGW being open? If none have been traced back to it, looks like they maybe doing somethings right?

Since August. As far as we know, no outbreaks have been traced back to the park.

Keeping density in the park low has, undoubtably, done wonders.
 
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How long has BGW been doing these mini-events and does anyone know if there have been any outbreaks related to BGW being open? If none have been traced back to it, looks like they maybe doing somethings right?
If you want to broaden it, there hasn’t been outbreaks at any park including ones that are actually pretty busy (Universal, WDW, HP), and they’re mostly doing the same things.
 
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there hasn’t been outbreaks at any park including ones that are actually pretty busy (Universal, WDW, HP)

*known outbreaks

Contact tracing in the US is notoriously awful.

and they’re mostly doing the same things.

This is DEFINITELY not true. I’ve been to a lot of parks since COVID now and the difference between a place like Hershey or SeaWorld Orlando and Disney or Universal is night and day. Advertising many of the same things doesn’t equate to doing many of the same things.
 
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*known outbreaks

Contact tracing in the US is notoriously awful.
Contract tracing itself isn’t great, but tracking outbreak sites has been pretty consistent. A basic news search can find numerous articles of outbreaks at bars, universities, and work places. However there are none traced to an amusement park, which would be an attractive news article, and that includes the parks playing fast and loose with preventive measures.
 
Yet the parks that aren’t doing the heavy handed enforcement seem to be doing just as well at WDW.

The absence of data isn't a good measuring stick when we know a huge number of cases go undetected—especially in the younger age brackets that frequently visit and staff amusement parks. Until widespread surveillance testing of park guests and employees takes place, we will have no idea how the parks are doing.
 
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Then we'll never know if we could relax any of the COVID Taskforce rules in parks and should, instead, continue to follow CDC guidelines to a tee.
 
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The absence of data isn't a good measuring stick when we know a huge number of cases go undetected—especially in the younger age brackets that frequently visit and staff amusement parks. Until widespread surveillance testing of park guests and employees takes place, we will have no idea how the parks are doing.
We know that similar age people frequent bars and can track a lot of outbreaks to bars. The absence of similar cases at parks is consistent with outdoor activities being significantly safer than indoor ones, yet in Virginia indoor places have been given greater leeway in opening and capacity.
 
I'm not suggesting that the spread in a park would be anywhere near the superspreader events that have happened in bars. The more the virus spreads to in a single gathering, the easier it is to trace things to that gathering.

If an asymptomatic employee infects a couple people at each session of the event though, that's going to be far harder to trace than if 30% of the people in a bar one night come down with it.
 
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