[guest post by Dana]
In three days, Disney World Orlando will reopen:
Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., will welcome back visitors on Saturday even as coronavirus cases in Florida remain high. In doing so Disney is stepping into a politicized debate surrounding the virus and efforts to keep people safe, where even the wearing of masks has become a point of contention.
On Wednesday, Florida reported more than 9,900 new cases, bringing the state’s total to 223,775 cases over the course of the pandemic.
Visiting Disney World will be different: Parades, fireworks and most indoor shows have been suspended. There will be no opportunities to hug any costumed characters. Fingerprint scanners will not be used at park entrances.
“Covid is here,” Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s theme park chairman, said. “We have a responsibility to figure out the best approach to safely operate in this new normal.”
Would you feel safe enough to go?
Meanwhile, President Trump’s re-election campaign moved the GOP convention to Florida after first-choice North Carolina’s governor made it clear that there would be social distancing protocols in place by only allowing “a scaled-down convention with fewer people, social distancing and face coverings.”
As a result, Jacksonville, Florida has been selected as the host city for the convention:
In a television interview with… Trump suggested the format for the Aug. 24-27 event would depend on the severity of the outbreak in the Sunshine State.
“Well, we’re always looking at different things,” the president said on Tuesday. “When we signed in Jacksonville, we wanted to be in North Carolina. That almost worked out, but the governor didn’t want to have people use the arena, essentially. And so I said, ‘Too bad for North Carolina.’”
Trump said that when the RNC announced it was changing venues, Florida “looked good.”
“It’s spiking up a little bit,” he told Van Susteren. “And that’s going to go down. It really depends on the timing. Look, we’re very flexible. We can do a lot of things, but we’re very flexible.”
Imagine, here we are in the middle of a pandemic where the infection rate is climbing, and not only does the President of the United States not want to hold a convention in a state because their priority is to keep people safe and try to limit the rate of transmission, but he backhands them for doing so!
Interestingly, Florida’s Gov. DeSantis now finds himself in a bit of a tight spot:
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a close Trump ally, was forced to roll back the state’s reopening plans, imposing restrictions that include limiting the capacity of indoor facilities to 50 percent.
On Tuesday, DeSantis refused to say whether he would lift the mandate for the convention, which would limit it to 7,500 people. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, who lobbied for the city to host the event, announced Tuesday that he and his family are in self-quarantine after he was exposed to a person who tested positive for COVID-19.
The president has not yet commented on the protocols put in place by the Jacksonville 2020 Host Committee. These will include daily coronavirus tests and temperature checks for all attendees. Also, while Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry noted that “there is a statewide executive order that facilities can’t have over 50% capacity,” he said that the city will reassess that order when the convention dates draw near.
Note: Already there are five GOP senators who have said they will not attend the convention, with a few citing concerns about coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Florida hospitals are feeling the strain :
More than 40 Florida hospitals in multiple counties across the state have maxed out their ICU capacity or are close to running out of intensive care beds as the coronavirus outbreak across the Sunshine State worsens, according to the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration.
As of Tuesday, more than 5,000 Florida patients were using roughly 83% of the state’s more than 6,000 ICU beds, according to Florida’s health agency, which is responsible for licensing the state’s health-care facilities. That leaves a little more than 1,000 free ICU beds, compared with nearly 1,400 available ICU beds less than three weeks ago, according to CBS’ local affiliate WTSP.
Overall, the state’s hospitals are now running at 78% capacity, according to AHCA. ICU beds are running out at several hospitals in some of the state’s most-populated counties, including Miami-Dade County, Orange County, Hillsborough County and Broward County, which are respectively home to Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.
Florida, which has more than 213,700 confirmed cases so far, is struggling with the third-worst outbreak in the country after New York and California.
–Dana