Planning on visiting Disney World? Surging COVID-19 cases means you’ll have to wear a mask
If you’re going to Walt Disney World, make sure to pack a mask because everyone will have to wear one while indoors at the park starting Friday.
On Wednesday, Disney World announced all guests — even if vaccinated — over the age of 2 will have to wear masks indoors and on Disney transportation. The transportation includes buses, the monorail and Disney Skyliner. Masks still won’t be required outdoors, at least for now.
It had been a month of very minimal COVID safety requirements at the park prior to Disney World returning to pandemic policies. In June, Disney lifted most of its mask mandates, only requiring facial coverings in Disney buses, monorails and Disney Skyliner for everyone. Vaccinated
guests were free to go maskless everywhere else. Unvaccinated guests were asked to wear masks indoors and on transportation.
The mask rollback comes amid an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases in Florida due to the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended wearing masks again indoors.
On Tuesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency recommended fully vaccinated people should wear masks in public indoor settings and in areas with “substantial and high transmission,” including schools, to help prevent the spread of the delta variant.
Orange County — the home of Disney World and other theme parks, such as Universal Orlando Resort — is regarded as a place of high community transmission by the CDC, according to its website.
Also on Wednesday, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings had reinstated a state of emergency due to high rates of COVID-19 transmission, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Florida recorded its fourth-highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began 16 months ago, reporting 17,589 new cases Wednesday to the federal government.
Meanwhile in MiamiDade County, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced that people will once again have to wear masks in county-run facilities, including in libraries, recreational centers and county-owned entertainment venues.
“The numbers are clear,” Levine Cava said at a press conference. “We hope that businesses will do the right thing.”