We have a reservation on June 16th at Poly. It was planned as a resorts only vacation and since we didn't even plan to do parks we stuck with the reservation. Not that it matters but the CM I spoke with recently seemed pretty confident that the resorts would be open. As far as fear of going, we have none. My family is in health care and my wife is a respiratory therapist and has seen this disease up close. We are not quite as fearful as others, perhaps because we don't spend a lot of time in front of the TV. For the media to keep viewers they have to startle and sensationalize. It's a proven formula and can be misleading. This is a terrible disease for some, but also nothing more than a walk in the park for others, likely the majority. Recent studies from USC and Stanford are indicating that a much larger percentage of the population has already been exposed, developed antibodies, and are past it. Most didn't even experience symptoms. The Stanford study indicated that the actual infected is likely up to 85x's what is officially tallied, and a mortality rate of around 0.12 to 0.2%. The USC study estimated 2.8-5.6% of the adult population of Los Angeles already had Covid-19 antibodies present, translating to around 200k-400k people. While I can not vouch for the accuracy of these studies or the mortality rate, there are also international studies that had similar findings.
If they are open, we will be there. If people are afraid, are in high-risk groups, or can expose those that are high risk, please don't go. Stay home and stay healthy. But for the vast majority of healthy people without comorbidities and with good BMI's (yes, that is a factor), when they do develop antibodies, it will be beneficial to all. International researchers are saying there are two options to beating Covid-19. 1. a vaccine, and 2. herd immunity. Since we are roughly 12+ months away from a vaccine, and it seems unrealistic to hide for more than a year, any level of normalcy will probably be dependent on segments of the population developing some level of immunity.
If they don't open, we will just go another time. This will be over at some point and many of the lessons learned may even go a long way to reducing the impact of other viruses like norovirus (many theme park visitors know this one all too well) or the seasonal flu. Some people forget that over 950,000 Americans were hospitalized and 79,000 died during the 2017-2018 flu season, and over 1 billion people were infected and as many as 575,000 died worldwide in 2009-2010 from H1N1. This will pass. Stay positive, stay healthy and more importantly, keep your mind healthy.
