It was widely reported that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States has announced that mask mandates are no longer recommended for approximately 70% of the American population. That made most of the headlines and exhausted much of the oxygen in the newsrooms. Honestly, though, is any other news getting through except for Ukraine (and rightly so)? One bit of news that slipped through the cracks is that the CDC additionally recommended against social distancing as a mandate in most situations.
https://twitter.com/apoorva_nyc/status/1497291130693726212
With the CDC rescinding its social distancing recommendations in most scenarios, places like the Disney Parks can now dismiss with their artificial capacity limits. In doing so, they will be following official government edict without fear of being outside of the “medical expert” orthodoxy. With the amount of money being left on the table by companies like Disney, do not be surprised if capacity limits are revoked very soon and put back at the original maximum capacity levels used before the pandemic.
For Disney Parks, this could mean an increase of between 20-30% in attendance during the summer months. However, as of yet neither Disney nor Universal have made any announcements in regards to increasing the number of possible guests each day. Neither have smaller venues like SeaWorld or Dollywood. With the news having hit late Friday, it’s just a matter of time for the first company to make the move; and then it’s doubtful that the others will hold out.
Now guests will have to decide whether they’re ready or not to return to normal at theme parks and other venues. After all, it seems many of the aspects of the pandemic are in the rear view mirror… for now.
Let us know what you think about this change in the comments below. Are you ready for capacity changes? And as always, keep reading the latest news that should be fun here at That Park Place!
