Face Mask Mandate Likely Until Late Summer in Disney World’s Orange County
In the last week plus, there has been news about the future of face mask mandates and physical distancing in Orange County. (Walt Disney World’s home in Florida–not to be confused with the other Orange County in California where Disneyland is located!) This post will present a straightforward recap the latest developments, without our usual commentary.
If you’re looking for our predictions, we’ll refer you to When Will Walt Disney World Stop Requiring Face Masks? That analysis has not changed materially in the last couple of months, so if you’ve already read it or any of our other articles recently (such as Mask Rule Relaxed for Outdoor Photos at Walt Disney World) that touch upon the future of face masks, you’re probably aware of our expectations.
We’ll start by quickly recapping rules in Orange County. Months ago, Florida fully reopened and in so doing, lifted capacity restrictions and undercut enforcement mechanisms for local mask mandates. Irrespective of that, Orange County has retained its rules, as have the county’s theme parks. This is permissible under Florida’s reopening executive order, which expressly allows for private businesses to operate with any self-imposed restrictions (think “no shirt, no shoes, no service” rules).
Beyond that, companies like Disney will not defy Orange County’s rules. Opinions on whether they should or not are irrelevant, because they simply won’t. It’s a nonstarter. Disney learned several years ago in Orange County (California edition, this time) the pitfalls of having an adversarial relationship with local governments.
As such, the actions and statements of Orange County (Florida again) are significant as they establish the earliest possible timeframes for Walt Disney World relaxing or lifting its mask and physical distancing rules. This should not be construed to mean Walt Disney World will change its rules simultaneous with Orange County–just that they won’t before then.
Now let’s turn to where things presently stand. Last week, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings stated that local health officials have begun devising a plan to reduce occupancy restrictions on some businesses, loosen physical distancing requirements, and some face mask requirements.
Orange County, Florida’s plan is being crafted with advice from the CDC, epidemiologists, and on the basis of public health data on vaccinations and infection rates. The mayor did not go into specifics about what the plan would entail, expect that it would occur in phases and could be based on a businesses’ indoor and outdoor capacity.
With regard to the last point, Demings did suggest that the phased plan will have differences in indoor and outdoor locations. Even though mask mandates often have lacked such a distinction, this would be consistent with CDC recommendations, which have always differed for indoor v. outdoor activities.
Since that plan was teased, prominent publications like Slate and The Atlantic have proposed an end to, or “off ramp” for, outdoor mask mandates. Israel, which offers a potential preview into what the U.S. numbers will look like in another month if vaccination rates hold, lifted its outdoor mask mandate over the weekend.
Demings did not indicate whether the outdoor mask mandate would be lifted or relaxed. He also didn’t list specific businesses that would be beneficiaries of the plan, save for restaurants. He indicated that this plan could allow capacity to be increased so dining establishments could accommodate more patrons. It’s not difficult to extrapolate from those comments how that could impact Walt Disney World’s operations.
In last week’s post about Walt Disney World adding tons of Park Pass availability for Summer 2021, we speculated that Disney could have knowledge of the plan’s specifics or even influence over its crafting. (While Disney would not defy Orange County, the company absolutely wields significant local power and could have a say in such plans.) This plan is expected to be officially unveiled any day now.
Following that, Orange County unveiled the “I Got My Shot” public safety campaign last week. This is designed to debunk vaccine myths, highlight trusted voices in the community, and encourage residents to get vaccinated and become advocates.
The campaign is a collaboration between the Florida Department of Health in Orange County, Orange County Government, and corporate partners across Central Florida. Per the county, both Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando are such partners, although neither theme park operator has issued press releases or anything in support of the public health safety campaign.
Fast-forward to Mayor Jerry Demings press conference this week, where he stated that he’s still weighing a timeline to phase out some restrictions, but estimated that the mask mandate as a whole could be lifted by late summer. He attributed the hesitancy to rising case and hospitalization numbers, and a pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine distribution. It also comes two weeks after Florida opened vaccine eligibility to all (and the same day all U.S. adults became eligible), during which time Orange County has seen a slowdown in its rate of vaccinations.
Demings said, “those dynamics have caused us to reevaluate our phasing methodology.” He also indicated that it’s likely physical distancing and capacity rules would be relaxed before the mask mandate ends. None of this is necessarily inconsistent with the comments from last week, but it does suggest a light pumping of the brakes–especially as the aforementioned phased plan was originally expected late last week.
Previously, the mayor has said he wants at least 50% of Orange County’s population vaccinated before ending the face mask requirement. At present, approximately 30% of Orange County residents are partially or fully immunized. Of residents over age 40, that number jumps to over 50%. So significant progress has been made, but still needs to be made in the younger cohort.
Orange County officials are meeting with health experts this week to discuss ending the face mask requirement, but it’s expected that nothing will change until vaccination, case, and hospitalization metrics improve. Ending on a positive note, former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb (who has become my favorite voice in the last year as a straight-shooter who offers nuanced analysis and tells the truth, good or bad, rather than what he thinks people supposedly need to hear) stated that’s exactly what he expects to happen.
In an interview yesterday, Gottlieb said: ““We’re never going to virtually eliminate this virus…but I think you’re going to start to see cases come down quite dramatically as we get into May.” As always, this is an evolving topic with guidance, rules, and recommendations subject to change. If case numbers do plummet and vaccinations continue increasing in May, that could certainly bode well for summertime changes at Walt Disney World.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Any expectations or predictions on when or how Orange County will relax or lift its physical distancing and/or face mask mandates? Think Walt Disney World and/or Universal Orlando will follow suit when Orange County makes changes, or do you expect either/both will wait for CDC guidance or something else? Please keep the comments civil. This is not the place for arguing about efficacy of NPIs, politics, and so forth—all such comments will be deleted, irrespective of perspective. You are not going to change anyone’s mind via the comments section on this blog, nor are you going to change Disney’s rules or public policy. If you wish to contest this, rather than yelling into the internet abyss, have your voice heard in a meaningful way by contacting Disney or your local elected officials.
While it would be nice if Disney would loosen the outdoor mask requirements when Orange County does, I think its more likely that they will wait to lift all mask rules at once. The problem with WDW is while a lot of time is spent outside, you are constantly going indoors to ride/get food/shop/etc. It’s already hard enough for CMs to enforce the mask requirement as it is, loosening restrictions would make that harder as people would forget to put on their masks/”lose them/actually lose them/etc. Also you know that there would be a small contingent of people that would actively debate what counts as “outside” or not (the Splash Mountain queue goes indoors and outdoors quite a bit, for example).
It’s just easier and less hassle for the CMs, who are already struggling to enforce mask compliance with the current rules, to have a mask policy that simply requires masks to be worn at all times in the park except for when stopped and eating/drinking. The chaos that would ensue from just loosening the mask requirements when outdoors is not worth it to Disney.
As a counterpoint, from the Atlantic piece:
“Julia Marcus, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, spoke with several male mask skeptics last year for a piece in The Atlantic. When she explained that masking wasn’t as important outdoors, the men became more amenable to wearing them indoors. By connecting rules to reasons, she got them to see the value of covering their nose and mouth when it actually mattered. Last week, Marcus told me that she’s baffled by the notion that the best way to get people to wear masks inside is to mandate that everybody wear one when they’re alone outside. ‘We don’t recommend condom use when people are enjoying themselves alone to get them to wear condoms with their sexual partners,’ she said.”
I find it curious how similar countries have come to different conclusions on rules around Covid. Here in the UK, even in full lockdown, we never had a mask mandate outdoors – the scientists were always firm that, as long as social distance was maintained, it’d never be necessary outdoors.
No criticism of anyone, just find it curious!
All credible epidemiologists have been firm about the same in the United States, but the degree to which mask-wearing has been politicized in both directions has led to irrational, unscientific outcomes and rules here. For so many people, it’s an all or nothing proposition with no room for nuance.
Take a look at the reaction to the referenced Atlantic and Slate articles on Twitter. You’ll find no shortage of people upset merely by the suggestion, paradoxically claiming we should “follow the science” and wear masks outdoors.
I continue to be surprised at the number of vaccinated people afraid to be around those who aren’t vaccinated. Becky S. states above, “ The vaccines are AWESOME. For some reason, people like to talk like they aren’t effective, but that just isn’t true. They are extremely effective!”. If she truly believes they are extremely effective, why is she worried about being around unvaccinated children. I was vaccinated around the first of the year, as I am a nurse, so I am comfortable being around those who have or have not been vaccinated. If you want more people to be vaccinated, then start lifting some of these restrictions…I honestly think you’d have more young people getting those vaccines.
Hi Tom,
How are the times if you have a park hopper and are able to go say from Magic Kingdom to Epcot? Are these a little longer, say maybe up to an hour, than normal or are they so long that having a park hopper is not worth it?
Thanks for all the great articles you have been providing so that we all can plan our trips to be somewhat productive.
Tom,
I appreciate that just last week or so Disney did a “ticket dump” but do you think Disney will release more tickets for the summer? Thee seems to be no tickets for Hollywood Studio, for example, until July. As always, thank you for your thoughts.
@Drew – Thanks for sharing the article. I’ve been fully vaccinated for about two months now. I feel quite comfortable visiting with other vaccinated people. I’m a teacher and will have lunch in the same room with other fully vaccinated teachers, for example (out of my whole school, all but two teachers got vaccinated! The unvaccinated ones are currently BOTH out for COVID-19 right now). The vaccines are AWESOME. For some reason, people like to talk like they aren’t effective, but that just isn’t true. They are extremely effective!
However, that said, you need to keep this in mind: most people are NOT fully vaccinated. They need to get the shot first! Children are not (cannot) vaccinated, and, let’s be real, kids are everywhere at WDW! It would be reckless to pretend everyone is immune now and get rid of the mask mandate and social distancing. Until more people get vaccinated, these policies will to continue. If people don’t like them, they should do their part and go out and get their shot!
@drew. Thanks for that great NYT article. That was really good. Thanks Tom for the update and nice blog!
So, one thing that apparently no one thought of is that those of us under 40 likely have to work during the hours the vaccination appointments are available – and not every employer is as generous as WDW in giving paid leave time to get your vaccine. I was only able to get my first shot last weekend when Saturday hours, my day off, opened up – prior to that, the only available appointments were smack in the middle of my work day. And of course, most people I know under 40 are the ones who have been working the front lines, facing and dealing with the public, for over a year while others have been able to stay home, so it’s a double-whammy.
It will be interesting to see if they add additional “off” hours like evenings and more weekends, if appointments pick back up again.
Yeah, that’s definitely an issue–I still don’t know why more emphasis isn’t being place on evenings and weekends. Especially when sites have had surplus capacity during weekday hours but still heavy demand other times.
I see this lasting longer as the news yesterday on Wesh. County officials are eying a climbing positivity rate that is up 2% in the last month. County mayor is concerned as you can walk in now in Orlando but appointments are going left open.
I’m fully vaccinated…but my kids (age 13/11) are not. The masks and distancing in place at Disney World make us feel more comfortable that our kids are protected. I often think about the one time I went to HK Disneyland and there was no concept of “personal space” on lines. Can’t imagine doing that now!!! 🙂
Just read this:
“Appointments slow to fill up at Orange County Convention Center
Demand for the coronavirus vaccine in Orange County appears to have slowed.
The Convention Center had 17,000 Pfizer shots available this week.
As of Monday evening, Demings says 11,000 spots were unfilled.”
This isn’t good for the prospect of things normalizing in Orange county soon.
I guess I don’t know Florida that well… I wouldn’t have expected Orange county to have so much vaccine hesitancy.
That’s a big part of why Orange County opened up to younger age groups before the rest of the state. If you knew where to look, there has been ample availability (regardless of age) for the last month-plus.
I live here, and I could also say “I guess I don’t know Florida that well” because I didn’t expect this much vaccine hesitancy, either. Definitely more than average, but not this much. Hopefully that fades over time. If Disney and Universal opted to be vocal partners in that vaccination initiative, both could make a huge difference. I suspect that might be too “controversial” for both, though.
Orange County is seriously only at 30-35% having started vaccination?
Across the US, it’s 40%. In my home country in NY, we are at about 48%.
So I see why Demmings somewhat tempered his prior forecast. For places still under 40%, they are clearly hitting vaccine hesitancy and it’s going to be difficult to get to 50% in the near-term.
I suspect in many places, including Orange County, it’s going to come to a point of when do they say, “ok.. we give up, this is as good as it’s going to get.”
It’s quite disappointing that Disney is bringing back just a partial FOTLK by mid-May. By then, there would no no excuse for any of the FOTLK cast members not to be fully vaccinated. As long as they are all fully vaccinated, there is no reason they would need to socially distance from each other.
So between Orange County moving slowly (which I don’t disagree with), and WDW going even slower than they really have to (I suspect they are starting to use Covid as a mere excuse for budget slashing… the partial FOTLK is likely cheaper than the full FOTLK)…. it might be fall before WDW even start to feel a bit more normal.
As always, thank you for the up to date and detailed information, Tom! I do hope that even if mask requirements aren’t completely lifted by this summer, I hope they at least lift the outdoor requirements. It has been stated over and over again with scientific evidence and backed by the CDC that the cause of outdoor spread is very minimal. This could also lead to a better environment overall for the cast members and visitors. I’d also expect vaccinations to hit 50% sooner rather then later which to me, is a really good sign in the right direction!
While I consider myself fully in compliance with the CDC, I now have hope for December that masks might not be necessary. I am vaccinated. I have cancelled three times, one because parks closed, the other two because people with me don’t want to mask all day. Some stress now off me that December will go as planned without masks in the park. I am Disney desperate at this time! Fast passes would be nice but it is the masks that are the dealbreakers!
Hi Tom,
My biggest worry is that airplanes will not allow you on if you cough. Just last week, my toddler coughed for a whole week, Now he’s fine. I have 3 kids, one of them just might start coughing during a trip. I myself get coughs sometimes. If we get banned from the airplane, it will mean that we can’t go on a paid vacation, or worse, can’t come back! And what if one person gets done coughing, then another one starts coughing? I am waiting for airlines to stop their health check requirement. I can’t fly anywhere until they do.
This is awesome news thanks Tom!! My Christmas trip is looking better and better!!! If masks are gone by the end of summer, then I can start hoping for free dining and the return of the candlelight processional! Am I asking too much for Country Bear Jamboree to get a Christmas overlay as well?? 😀
I don’t usually wade into the morass of face mask debate, since I don’t like when people yell at me, but I would like to point out that every single adult human looks unbelievably hot in a face mask, even if you have an ugly nose and/or mouth. Though I can’t wait for the panera to be over, that’s kind of like one of those small perks we often overlook.
I don’t mind wearing a face mask myself, probably because I look unbelievably hot in one. Though I have been fully downloaded with the latest Microsoft updates for the last two weeks now, I don’t mind wearing one when technically I probably don’t have to anymore. If it makes people feel safer, it’s literally the smallest thing I could do. In fact, I find pants more restrictive than a face mask. I might have lived a past life in Scotland, since I dream about it being socially acceptable to wear a kilt at the parks. Although this would give Jumpin’ Jellyfish in DCA a thrill that is otherwise lacking, I’d be careful everywhere I sat and carry wet wipes.
“Though I have been fully downloaded with the latest Microsoft updates for the last two weeks now”
Well played.
I am curious if you think Disney has backed off calling out folks not wearing their mask properly. We found lots of folks walking around with their masks below their nose. It seemed rare except right before a ride started like Star Tours to see them called out. I saw groups standing right in front of a cast member at the front of a line where the whole group had their masks beow their nose.
I could see castmembers getting sick of spending their days asking folks to cover their nose but for those of us wearing our mask properly in the heat it is not great to see others breaking the rules.
Also saw folks with the mask pulled down to their chin. Castmember asked them to put it on. They did and took a few steps and took it right back off…..castmember COULD have seen them with it off again if they had looked but didn’t seem to look. Saw this a couple of times.
To the extent that this is happening, and I’d concur that it is, I think it’s less Disney (as a company) backing off and more about individual Cast Members collectively growing fatigued with fighting a losing battle with regard to enforcement, and dealing with belligerent guests in the process. There’s only so much of that someone can handle before deeming that it just isn’t worth the effort or energy–especially when a lot of those people will simply revert to wearing their mask improperly when out of view.
The lead article here, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/briefing/european-soccer-league-mars-helicopter-navalny.html, is about a 5m read and I thought did a good job offering some nuance/putting things in good context re: risk going forward and vaccination.
Looking forward to being fully vaccinated on May 3rd!
I’d second the recommendation of that NYT piece from yesterday (although the URL threw me for a loop at first). There have been a number of great recent reads about how Americans are dramatically overestimating real risk levels at this point.
Tom, Thank you for explaining the whole local government mandate thing. This was very helpful in making sense of WDW’s perspective as simply as possible. Wish it had clicked for me sooner, but I am glad to “get it”.
You’re welcome!