Disney CEO Bob Chapek said this week that he expects Disney Parks to ease current mask and social distancing requirements by 2022, according to CNBC.
Chapek said that social distancing and mask requirements will be in place throughout the rest of the year at the least.
- “Dr. Fauci said earlier today that he hopes there’s vaccines for everyone who wants them by April this year,” Chapek said. “If that happens, that is a game changer, and that could accelerate our expectations and give people the confidence that they need to come back to the parks.”
- “Will there be some overlap until we know that we’ve hit herd immunity?” he said. “Sure we will but do we also believe that we’ll be in the same state of 6-foot social distancing and mask wearing in 2022? Absolutely not.”
Disneyland and the pandemic
Disneyland has been closed since March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The park tried to reopen in July 2020 to celebrate its 65th anniversary. But California did not issue guidelines for theme parks in time for that event so the park had to stay closed.
- California eventually issued state guidelines for theme parks to reopen within the state. The guidelines require each theme parks’ individual county to meet certain thresholds before the parks can reopen. Experts now expect Disneyland to reopen sometime in 2021.
- Christine McCarthy, Disney’s senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, said Disneyland would likely stay closed until March, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
Most recently, Disney California Adventure Park will reopen for a “limited-time ticketed experience” in March, which I wrote about for the Deseret News.
How Disneyland has helped
But Disneyland has helped with the vaccination effort. Chapek said Thursday that there have been 100,000 vaccine doses distributed at Disneyland since the park became a mass vaccination site, Business Insider reports.