California’s flagship Disneyland park has announced it will be giving a leave of absence to another wave of its employees, following a similar exodus of thousands of workers in the months since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted lockdowns around the country. Disneyland president Ken Potrock announced the somber news in a company-wide memo on Monday.
Unlike Disney World in Florida, Disneyland has wisely not reopened since closing on March 13th, just when the pandemic had begun intensifying. Citing “recently released state guidelines,” Potrock explained in the memo that, aside from the few exceptions like Downtown Disney and various food and shopping areas opening for business, the park as a whole would be remaining closed for the time being.
The possibility of Disneyland remaining closed until 2021 at the earliest has been in the cards since earlier this year, and while Disney World and Disneyland Paris had found a way to open their doors once again (with the latter recently closing again due to a rather unsurprising spike in coronavirus cases), it seems that prediction may still hold water for the Anaheim theme park. Potrock emphasized in the memo that the company is “committed to helping our teams through this and, most importantly, getting people back to work where we can.”
On the marginally brighter side of things, the memo also stated that furloughed employees will still remain covered by Disneyland’s insurance perks while also being able to receive unemployment benefits. With a company as colossal as Disney, one would think that’s the least they could do given their nearly infinite monetary reserves, but it’s still nice to hear.
Disneyland is absolutely making the right call here. Even with the strictest health and safety precautions, it’s extremely difficult to argue in favor of reopening any venues whose primary purpose revolves around large public gatherings. The COVID-19 pandemic is getting worse by the day, particularly in the U.S., and places like Disney World deciding to invite people back will only amplify the virus’ spread. All it takes is a few people to catch it, and if people are willing to risk going to a theme park that will almost guarantee an infection, odds are they aren’t the types to self-isolate in the event they test positive.
Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it’s frustrating. But if more people don’t begin to take the threat seriously and actively take precautions, the death toll will increase exponentially before it ever begins to fall. Disney makes a large chunk of its revenue from its theme parks, so the fact that its most popular one is remaining closed should mean something. Here’s hoping the affected employees are able to land on their feet and can get back to work as soon as it’s safe.
Source: Deadline
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