By R.T. Watson
Orange County, Calif., and Orange County, Fla., both enjoy
year-round warm weather, swaying palm trees -- and Walt Disney Co.
theme parks that before Covid-19 generated billions of dollars in
economic activity.
But as California and Florida have adopted different approaches
to reopening their economies during the pandemic, Disney has been
straddling alternative paths with diverging outcomes. The dichotomy
shows the way rules and regulations that vary by jurisdiction are
affecting the reopening plans of national and global
businesses.
With Disney, standing to be affected are the livelihoods of tens
of thousands of workers, as well as local entrepreneurs,
cash-strapped municipalities and the health of two well-populated
counties.
In California, a deliberately paced reopening plan is
frustrating Disney and local lawmakers who feel the state should be
moving faster. Disneyland, located in the Orange County, Calif.,
city of Anaheim, has been closed for more than 200 days. Before the
pandemic, the park had been closed only a handful of times during
its 65-year history.
The larger Walt Disney World, located in Orange County, Fla.,
near Orlando, has been open, at limited capacity, for more than two
months after resuming operations in July.
Confronting the dueling realities has been vexing for
39-year-old Dara Maleki, who owns pizza restaurants near Disneyland
and Disney World. He said sales are down 90% at his Anaheim
location compared with 30% in Florida.
California's government needs to act, said Mr. Maleki. "I want
people to come back safely...no one wants an outbreak," he said.
"But we also want an opportunity to survive."
California had planned to announce guidelines for the theme
parks Oct. 2, but efforts fizzled after theme-park operators
objected in private to the restrictions in the proposed plan,
according to a person familiar with the matter.
The state's initial draft plan sought to prohibit parks from
reopening until counties where they are located reach a minimal
spread of the coronavirus, with less than 2% of tests coming back
positive. Even then, capacity would be limited to 25% and
restricted to visitors who reside within 120 miles, the person also
said.
Shortly after the state shared the proposal Oct. 1, Disney
Executive Chairman Robert Iger resigned from California Democratic
Gov. Gavin Newsom's economic-recovery task force.
Mr. Newsom addressed Mr. Iger's departure Wednesday at a media
briefing. "There's disagreements in terms of opening a major theme
park," he said. "We're going to be led by a health-first framework,
and we're going to be stubborn about it."
Ambitions to reopen Disneyland had already suffered a setback
earlier that week, when Orange County failed to advance to Tier 3,
from Tier 2, in California's four-tier system outlining when and
how certain businesses can reopen.
Moving to the third tier would have reflected "moderate"
community spread of the coronavirus, compared with the current
"substantial." Tier 3 allows many indoor and outdoor businesses to
either reopen or increase capacities.
Two hours after the state announced that the county wasn't
progressing to a new tier, Disney said it was laying off 28,000
workers across its theme-parks division, citing the inability to
reopen Disneyland as a factor.
According to a Disney-sponsored study conducted by economists at
California State University, Fullerton, the Disneyland Resort in
2018 generated $8.5 billion in economic activity in Southern
California and created more than 78,000 jobs.
When Orange County, Calif., fell short of advancing to a
less-restrictive tier last week, it posted a positivity rate -- the
number of positive tests as a proportion of overall tests -- that
met the World Health Organization's business-reopening benchmark of
5% or less. But it failed the state-mandated target of daily
Covid-19 cases when it registered 4.4 infections per 100,000
people, exceeding California's threshold for moving to Tier 3. This
week the county's numbers worsened, further delaying any move to a
new tier.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis's eagerness to reopen
his state's economy -- even as the number of new Covid-19 cases
rose -- paved the way for Disney World to reopen this summer. He
was one of the first governors to allow businesses, including theme
parks, to reopen following a lockdown that started later than in
many other states.
Disney World employs about 77,000 workers in the Orlando area
and generates more than $700 million in sales-tax revenue for
Florida, according to the state's chief financial officer.
So far Disney World attendance appears weak. Deutsche Bank
analysts who track theme-park traffic recently said attendance at
Orlando-area theme parks is about 80% below 2019 levels. Disney
doesn't release data on how much it is limiting capacity.
Mr. DeSantis announced in late September plans to loosen
restrictions further on businesses by advancing Florida to Phase 3
of his economic-reopening plan. The move not only allows theme
parks to increase capacity but permits restaurants to resume
full-capacity operations. He also banned authorities from fining or
penalizing people for not wearing masks.
Although Mr. DeSantis's plan for theme parks cleared the way for
Disney to increase capacity at its Orlando-area park as part of
Phase 3, the company said it planned to make no changes and would
continue to require customers to use face coverings and practice
physical distancing.
Mr. DeSantis's recovery plan for Florida doesn't use specific
numeric targets. It instead calls for a "downward trajectory" in
epidemiological criteria to consider further reopening of the
economy.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, Florida
is showing a weekly average positivity rate of 10.2%. California
currently registers a statewide rate of 2.4%, according to the
university.
Florida's reporting of Covid-19 deaths and other data has been
criticized by health professionals and lawmakers.
"It all has been designed to justify opening the economy and in
many instances opening it too quickly," said state Rep. Geraldine
Thompson, whose district includes Disney World.
A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis wrote in an email: "The data has
driven his decisions from the get go."
Stan Manousos is happy with Florida's effort to reopen the
economy. But the part-owner of the go-kart track Andretti Indoor
Karting & Games -- about 7 miles from Disney World -- has no
immediate plans to increase capacity from its currently reduced
level.
"We're still doing as much social distancing as possible," Mr.
Manousos said. "We want to be part of the solution and not part of
the problem."
--Arian Campo-Flores and Christine Mai-Duc contributed to this
article.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 09, 2020 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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