Data

One thing I haven't seen discussed is the role of liability in when the parks open. I'm sure the lawyers will have a say in when and how they will open, and liability for any deaths from COVID-19 will be a major concern. While there's never a good time for a lawsuit, the park really doesn't need a lawsuit right now because someone got COVID-19 at the park and later died. This is one reason why a lot of businesses that could reopen are deciding to hold off. Of course they can't be sued just because someone got the virus in the park, they have to show the park was negligent in some way. This could be not training employees in proper procedures, not providing masks, gloves, sanitizer, etc. or not enforcing policies with patrons. I expect that whatever the policies are when the park reopens, they will be enforced. This is why safety rules are enforced much more than line jumping or smoking now. This could be one more factor in the financial equation of whether to open this year. Add this to a shortened season, reduced capacity, and extra cost of PPE, and they might decide to wait until next year.

More people died in the US yesterday from COVID-19 than from any other cause of death, including heart disease and cancer. Five times as many people died in New York City yesterday as died from all other causes of death combined. And while most fatalities have been older, this demographic has a higher fatality rate in general. To put this in perspective, the chance of a 25-34 year old dying has doubled in the last month since more people in this age group are dying of COVID-19 than all other causes. Sure the totals right now are less than for a typical flu season, but remember that we are only really one month in to the global pandemic. Even if we are at the peak now, there will be just as many or more cases on the way down as on the way up. And this is with the extreme mitigating measures we are taking. And yes there will be more deaths from suicide and stress-related causes, but there will also be fewer deaths from car crashes for instance. The net effect won't be known for some time but I have not seen any evidence it will be within an order of magnitude of what we are seeing due to COVID-19. The stats above were calculated from data from the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db355.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/COVID19/index.htm