Orange County Mayor Demings didn’t rule out on Wednesday that some of Central Florida’s smaller tourist attractions could reopen this weekend.
Demings: Still many steps ahead for Fun Spot, Gatorland
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings didn’t rule out on Wednesday that some of Central Florida’s smaller tourist attractions such as Gatorland or Fun Spot could reopen as early as this weekend, but he said there were still a lot of steps that must be completed before then.
The mayor, who must sign off on the reopening plans along with Gov. Ron DeSantis, suggested there was too much to do for the parks to meet the ambitious reopening goals they laid out in written plans to the county.
“It’s possible, but there’s a lot that’s got to get done,” Demings said.
His comments came following a regular update about the county’s coronavirus response in which officials noted that Orange is in “good shape” compared to other large cities, but continues to find new cases every day.
Orange added 75 new confirmed cases of the virus since Sunday, including nine on Wednesday, for a total of 1,708, according to state data. The death toll for the county stands at 38.
Dr. Raul Pino, the Florida Department of Health’s local officer, offered a new statistic on Wednesday, revealing that 10% of the confirmed cases in Orange are health care workers. That’s lower than the state figure, where health care workers make up 12.2% of Florida’s more than 47,000 cases.
And the fatality rate in Orange County is lower than the state’s, too, he said. About 2% of infected people in Orange died and nearly 5% of people infected statewide died.
Demings said that is good news for Orange, but he is still focused moving the county through a measured reopening of a tourism-dependent economy that doesn’t trigger a second wave of the pandemic.
And, he cautioned, preliminary results of a county consumer-confidence survey shows “a lot of measures have to be in place for people to feel comfortable.”
“Suffice it to say, we are moving in the direction of allowing our businesses to reopen,” the mayor said.
Thursday is likely to prove an important day in that process as Demings’ Economic Recovery Task Force meets at 2 p.m. for a meeting where Universal Orlando is expected to present its plan for resuming operations.
A subcommittee of Demings’
task force already heard on Wednesday and earlier this week appeals from smaller Orange County attractions, including Gatorland and Fun Spot.
In a letter to the mayor dated Tuesday, Fun Spot asked to reopen on Friday. Gatorland in a letter also dated on Tuesday asked to reopen on Saturday. WonderWorks asked to open May 29. ICON Park on International Drive said it would reopen no sooner than June 3.
Members of the task force said they supported the safety measures presented by those companies such as operating at reduced capacity and with enhanced protocols to reduce transmission of the virus.
Dr. George Ralls, chief quality officer for hospital system Orlando Health, listened Wednesday to proposed protocols for reopening the smaller attractions and had “no particular concern.”
“I think it’s really clear from listening to everybody that the business owners and leadership are taking this seriously,” Ralls said during the meeting. “We all understand what’s at risk if we don’t get this right.”
Though some small attractions hoped to open as soon as Thursday, the governor’s executive order won’t allow it without an endorsement letter from Demings followed by the governor’s OK.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” said Jesse Martinez, panel chairman. “Hopefully we can get IDrive, Gatorland, Fun Spot and everybody rockin’ and rollin’. “