In Florida, COVID cases have been on the rise.
Health & Safety Signage at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
After the CDC recommended masks be worn indoors in high-risk areas, Disney World changed its mask policy amid the surge of COVID cases in Central Florida. Now, health officials continue to watch Florida COVID-19 cases rise by a large percentage.
MSN News reports that the seven-day COVID-19 case average in Florida has surged by 800% over the past month. This spike encompasses new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. According to the CDC, as of July 1, 2021, Florida’s average for new cases over seven days was 1,839. As of August 1st, the CDC reported that the new seven-day average is 17,024 new COVID-19 cases.
EPCOT Mask Sign
On Friday, July 30th, Florida reported the highest amount of new COVID-19 cases in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic. As reported by MSN News, Florida has the highest amount of COVID-19 patients occupying hospital beds in the U.S. with 23% of all Florida hospital beds used by COVID-19 patients.
Don’t forget your mask!
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that there are no current plans for a shutdown and signed an executive order that prevents local governments from requiring masks or proof of vaccination. The Walt Disney Company recently announced that Cast Members are required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
EPCOT Mask Sign
We are closely watching this developing situation in Florida for any changes that could affect your visit to Disney World. We want you, our readers, to be informed so you can make the best travel decisions for your family. Keep reading DFB for news about Florida, Disney World, and beyond.
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I think it is also worth noting that the death rate has not increased commensurately with the infection rate. depending on the comparison window the 7-day moving average is about the same as April/May and about double that of the lowest average in early July.
I find it utterly ridiculous that they are mandating mask but not social distancing. If you’re outside and people are breathing on your neck without a mask, it’s just as dangerous. It makes no sense at all. BRING BACK SOCIAL DISTANCING! Do better WDW
Our florida trip was cancelled from Sept 2020, then we reschedule to Sept 2021, but it was cancelled again , from our tour operator in UK, we decided as much as we love to be in florida it just wasn’t worth the hassle of rescheduling yet again, but America isn’t letting UK visitors into USA , & its not worth if we were allowed in to have to quarntine on way back to UK, so we decided to cancel get our money back & save it till 2024 until everything dies down & all the construction work is done ,
Its just not worth the risk to let other countries into florida or USA until corvid cases drop to a very low number
What they don’t tell us is what percentage of those cases require medical care? What percentage require hospitalization? Telling us 23% of available hospital beds are used by COVID patients tells us nothing. What percentage of the cases are among the unvaccinated? What percentage of the number requiring medical care/hospitalization are among those that are vaccinated? What percentage of people getting COVID were wearing masks? Without all of the data, saying that the numbers have increased 800% is nothing more than fear mongering at best.
I would like to say thank you to the Disney Food Blog team for all your hard work. My wife and I watch all the videos and read the news letters and the info you give helps us and others plan our most magical trips. It can’t be easy to deliver crappy news regarding covid. I see a lot of angry and frustrated people in the comments. Just know that the info you’re providing does help and it is very much appreciated. My family and I look forward to being able to travel to Walt Disney World again some day. Until then, the DFB team helps with all your great pics and videos. Thanks again! Stay safe.
21,733,312 Population.
.000084% before and now .00079% now. This headline is meant to scare you. One more and I am stopping my subscription.
I personally don’t think it’s right to require employees/cast members to get a vaccine that isn’t fully FDA approved, and I am certainly glad my employer doesn’t require it, or I’d be looking for another job. I don’t think enough is known about the long-term effects. I’ve read that Disney is having a difficult time getting enough workers, and they throw this at them? Maybe I’m thinking about this from the wrong angle, and perhaps many potential cast members don’t want to work somewhere unless everyone is vaccinated?
@ Chris…. BINGO!
Fear mongering
Florida is number one in the country for rising covid cases and I am frankly shocked that Disney World has not reduced it’s capacity and gone back to social distancing. How do we know who is vaccinated and who is not seeing all these crowds and hardly any masks on anyones’ face. I am an annual passholder and a Florida resident. We visit the parks quite frequently, usually once a month, but haven’t been there since April. I had the virus in early May and was pretty sick and now with this new variant, even though I am now vaccinated, I am uncomfortable to visit because of the enormous crowds on top of each other. I certainly do not want to get the virus again especially since there have been cases among those who are vaccinated. With crowds rising and covid running wild in our state now, I am not sure when we will be there again. Until this “crisis” in my state of Florida is under control and our governor gets his act together to keep us all safer, I guess I expect to see Disney World get their act together as they did before. Limit crowds and social distance everyone. I realize WDW is going into it’s 50th anniversary which will be really jam packed, but is more money more important than the health of people who go through your parks every day?
I’m going to start my post with the disclaimer that I’ve enjoyed the articles and videos from Disney Food Blog for several years, but I’m going to have to agree with other comments regarding the fear mongering that seems to be happening more often on this site. It’s pretty clear which side of the debate this site falls on, as along the way there seems to have been a ramp-up of “scary” information being shared and articles being written to support a particular approach to the virus and visiting Disney World. Since we get enough information about the virus stats, recommendations, and other information from untold numbers of other sites, I would prefer to stick with the regular Disney tips, tricks, food, and such on this site. It really is unnecessary to post these types of articles regarding COVID stats. We get it. Stick to your swim lane.
@Chris Hospitals will not admit a patient to a hospital to a bed unless they require medical attention. So the answer to your first question is 100% of the people being admitted to hospitals and being put in beds. According to EVERY major news station: ABC, NBC, & CBS who are getting there information from the CDC, 98% of COVID cases are from unvaccinated individuals leaving 2% that are vaccinated who are contracting COVID. Of those 2% that are vaccinated and contracting the virus, many are elderly or immune compromised. The CDC website would have the exact statistics on how many of those 2% vaccinated individuals land in the hospital. Sharing the statistical increases of 800% and 23% is to share fact based data so that people can make fact based decisions about where they wish to travel to for one thing and where in the country COVID is increasing again. NOT sharing that data is irresponsible and dangerous, especially when you could bring home Covid to an elderly relative and they could die. I speak from experience, I lost both my grandmother and mother to COVID because someone brought it into their nursing home. I hope you feel more informed and not so upset, it will be ok.
MD, I’m so sorry for your losses.
Would you rather wear a mask or a ventilator?
@Lee Cooper:
“Would you rather wear a mask or a ventilator?”
Neither.
Would you rather do your own research or trust people with a political agenda to make your medical decisions for you?
What would you say If I told you that I haven’t worn a mask since the whole Plandemic began, except when required, and then without a positive seal against my face, and I have not gotten sick or died yet? How do you explain the “extreme lethality” of this virus given my case?