Disney Pushes Back After Gov. Ron DeSantis Lifts Florida COVID-19 Restrictions

Walt Disney Co. DIS has chosen not to embrace Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to suspend all COVID-19 restrictions across the state, opting to continue to follow federal guidelines relating to pandemic health safety.

What Happened: Yesterday, DeSantis issued an executive order suspending all local COVID-19 emergency mandates immediately while nullifying those mandates as of July 1.

DeSantis’ actions came during an event when he signed prohibiting Florida entities, including private businesses, from requiring the use of vaccine passports to show evidence of vaccination in order to gain admission to a property.

“The fact is, we are no longer in a state of emergency,” DeSantis told reporters.

Private businesses can still require social distancing and the use of masks, and Disney is part of this continued enforcement of pandemic protocols. According to the Inside the Magic blog, the company has alerted users of its MyDisneyExperience app that it has no immediate plans to jettison its safety precautions.

“We are aware of the state of Florida’s plans announced today to modify COVID-19 guidelines,” said the company in a text message. “We will evaluate this latest guidance and maintain our current health and safety measures at this time, including face-covering requirements. We will continue to make thoughtful adjustments to our policy. As COVID-19 vaccines become more available, we encourage people to get vaccinated.”

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Why It Happened: Disney’s Florida attractions reopened last summer at a 25% guest capacity that was later increased to 35%.

During the company’s Q1 earnings report call in February, CEO Bob Chapek stated increases in capacity is “going to be determined by the rate of vaccination of the public. That seems like the biggest lever that we can have in order to either take the parks that are currently under limited capacity and increase it, or open up parks that are currently closed.”

Except for Disneyland Paris, Disney’s theme parks and resorts have reopened for business.

(Photo by Chris Flynn/Pixabay.)