In a press conference today, California Governor Gavin Newsom has indicated that there is a high likelihood that a majority of businesses — which presumably includes theme parks — won’t be allowed to open until 2021.
The Governor stated the following, indicating that Californians should not be asking, “When can my business reopen?” but instead “When will a COVID-19 vaccine be widely available?”
“Look, I understand the prevailing winds where people are pushing optimism because we’re desperate for it and we’re all longing for a ‘When is this thing over?’ question to be answered. When can I get this vaccine? When can I get my kids back to school? When can I go back to work? When can I reopen my doors, my business?
And the sober reality is — and this is the sober reality — the expectation should not — cannot — be this calendar year. For the overwhelming majority of us to get to where we need to go as a nation, as a state, that will not happen until 2021.
The real question is, when in 2021 are we going to see broad availability and distribution of tens of millions — dare I say, hundreds of millions — of doses of vaccine made readily available in a way we can be confident about the efficacy of the vaccine and the impact of the vaccine on immunity.”
Screenshot via California Governor Gavin Newsom on YouTube
Newsom continued, saying, “Most of us are aligned with science and with this sober reality that we are going to be in 2021 working our way, slogging our way through the distribution of these millions and millions of these doses of vaccine.”
It is important to note that Newsom said a vaccine will not be distributed in California until the state approves it, which could take additional time.
Although the state of California is expected to release an update on the long-awaited theme park reopening guidelines tomorrow, Governor Newsom’s most recent comments indicate there is likely to be a structure in place that prevents parks — including Disneyland Resort — from reopening until sometime next year. This remains to be seen and we will continue to update Inside the Magic as more details regarding Newsom’s comments on theme parks and the “overwhelming majority” of business operations in California.
While Governor Newsom has insinuated that Disneyland fans may have to wait until next year to walk down Main Street, U.S.A. again, we won’t know for sure a timeframe for when Disneyland Resort and Disney California Adventure can reopen until tomorrow at the earliest, but an actual reopening date is not yet expected.
We will continue to update our website with the latest Disneyland Resort operations information as it is released.
Governor Newsom’s full COVID-19 and theme park update from today can be viewed here.
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Credit: Joshua Sudock/Disneyland Resort
