Coronavirus Impacting Theme Parks

[disco2000]

9 minutes ago, presto123 said:

America is #1 in the world in medical research, medical innovation, and top healthcare professionals/facilities. It's not even close, but we are the absolute epicenter of the Coronavirus pandemic. Also not even close.  You have to ask yourself why? Who is responsible? I think we know the answer.

Or why doesn’t anyone question why the USA makes up only 4.25% of the world’s population; yet we are 26% of the total known Coronavirus cases and 23% of the total world deaths due to Coronavirus…we are leading all countries by a long shot…Strive to be Number One in every category I guess...

[presto123]

2 minutes ago, LovinMeSomeBanshee said:

Top healthcare facilities and professionals, sure.  Top healthcare?  Not so much.  We’re probably not in the top 10.  And yeah, let’s not beat around the bush.  Our leadership is awful right now.

I purposely did not include healthcare. Are you kidding me? The party in power is in court trying to strip healthcare from 30 million people with no backup plan. It would also kill protections for people with cancer and such where they can get locked out of even being able to PURCHASE insurance. All this happening during a 100 year pandemic. SMH

[presto123]

9 minutes ago, LovinMeSomeBanshee said:

Top healthcare facilities and professionals, sure.  Top healthcare?  Not so much.  We’re probably not in the top 10.  And yeah, let’s not beat around the bush.  Our leadership is awful right now.

Have to beat around the bush and choose words carefully. Political discussion not really allowed here unfortunately. Hard to stay non-political when discussing this countries Coronavirus response/policies.

[LovinMeSomeBanshee]

It’s hard to remain non-political when the reason we’re in this giant mess is strictly political.  The ruling party has pushed out to their cult that masks are unnecessary and frowned upon, that the nation’s top infectious disease experts are not to be trusted and that we need to CUT testing in order to make the whole thing disappear.  States are going BACK on lockdown for a second time because we have a complete void of leadership in the White House.  Ban me or delete my post if you wish, but you cannot refute these facts.

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

Let's not get political please and thank you! 

[IndyGuy4KI]

We don't ban people for having a political opinion. We do understand this topic is hard to discuss without politics. Respectfully, we do ask to try and  keep politics out of it, because nothing good ever comes out of that. Lastly, people come to KIC to get away from it, not read more about it.

[King Ding Dong]

If this country doesn’t substantially change its policies very very soon and take this seriously the parks are going to look substantially similar next season as well.  This is a slow moving ship and changes need to happen now, not 7 months from now.  

[bjcolglazier]

What do ya'll think about this chart: 

 

What's interesting to me is amusement parks and going to a sports stadium (without differentiating indoor/outdoor) are a "9". Most of these places have been closed for months. How do they even know this? Or is it just, "well, it's probably dangerous, so give it a 9"?  Is Kings Island a 9? Is Indiana Beach? IB has been open 3 weeks---there's been no spike in NW Indiana in the counties around the park, nor the one it is in. That could change, but until it does I'm skeptical. 

I just find it really frustrating that as cases spike in FL, TX, etc....they aren't really telling us WHERE people most likely got it. That data is hidden from us. Were they at work? Or were they at an amusement park? Because I'm betting they were probably inside at work or a club, etc.

[NegativeGs]

25 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

What do ya'll think about this chart: 

 

What's interesting to me is amusement parks and going to a sports stadium (without differentiating indoor/outdoor) are a "9". Most of these places have been closed for months. How do they even know this? Or is it just, "well, it's probably dangerous, so give it a 9"?  Is Kings Island a 9? Is Indiana Beach? IB has been open 3 weeks---there's been no spike in NW Indiana in the counties around the park, nor the one it is in. That could change, but until it does I'm skeptical. 

I just find it really frustrating that as cases spike in FL, TX, etc....they aren't really telling us WHERE people most likely got it. That data is hidden from us. Were they at work? Or were they at an amusement park? Because I'm betting they were probably inside at work or a club, etc.

Based on my lifestyle (including significant work travel), I would place amusement parks at an 8 or 9 on this scale. Is my qualitative assessment going to stop me visiting Kings Island about once a week this season? Absolutely no, I feel there are many other risks that I readily accept each day that put me in greater danger. For me, the benefit of Kings Island outweighs its potential risks.

[jsus]

1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

Or why doesn’t anyone question why the USA makes up only 4.25% of the world’s population; yet we are 26% of the total known Coronavirus cases and 23% of the total world deaths due to Coronavirus…we are leading all countries by a long shot…Strive to be Number One in every category I guess...

Loads of people, yourself included, are questioning exactly that.  Not sure what you're getting at..

[King Ding Dong]

39 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

What do ya'll think about this chart:

What's interesting to me is amusement parks and going to a sports stadium (without differentiating indoor/outdoor) are a "9". Most of these places have been closed for months. How do they even know this? Or is it just, "well, it's probably dangerous, so give it a 9"?  Is Kings Island a 9? Is Indiana Beach? IB has been open 3 weeks---there's been no spike in NW Indiana in the counties around the park, nor the one it is in. That could change, but until it does I'm skeptical. 

I just find it really frustrating that as cases spike in FL, TX, etc....they aren't really telling us WHERE people most likely got it. That data is hidden from us. Were they at work? Or were they at an amusement park? Because I'm betting they were probably inside at work or a club, etc.

They are not hiding that data from you BJ, they don’t really know with a high degree of confidence.  Why?   No robust testing and contact tracing protocols. In many cases it still takes 5-7 days or more to get test results if you can get a test. 4 and a half months into this.  You have already stated your objection to robust contact tracing.  
 

So how exactly do you propose we gather high quality data to form a more coherent understanding of this virus so we can fight back?  

Right now we are just sending waves and waves over the trench walls into the machine gun nests and results are what one would expect.  

[bjcolglazier]

2 minutes ago, King Ding Dong said:

So how exactly do you propose we gather high quality data to form a more coherent understanding of this virus so we can fight back?  

I'm retreating to my basement and welding the door shut. Maybe that'll work. ;-)   (I was actually trying to move this thread back onto topic. Oh, well)

[MisterSG1]

1 hour ago, NegativeGs said:

Based on my lifestyle (including significant work travel), I would place amusement parks at an 8 or 9 on this scale. Is my qualitative assessment going to stop me visiting Kings Island about once a week this season? Absolutely no, I feel there are many other risks that I readily accept each day that put me in greater danger. For me, the benefit of Kings Island outweighs its potential risks.

This is one of the attitudes that's causing the massive spread in the US. You may not get sick, but you may potentially pass the virus to many other people causing a lot more to get sick.

The Government of Ontario announced today that Ontario's Stage 3 will not include the opening of Canada's Wonderland, and i think it's a good move personally. There's way too much risk at this point. Ohio and Ontario aren't too far off in population, Alarming that on July 10, Ohio reported over 1,500 cases, while here in Ontario, we have been reporting roughly 110-130 daily cases for the past two weeks.

My concern about the parks opening as well is how 'militant' will associates need to be with guests wearing masks. If security doesn't immediately kick them out than I think there's way too much risk in keeping the park open.

[bjcolglazier]

3 minutes ago, MisterSG1 said:

This is one of the attitudes that's causing the massive spread in the US. You may not get sick, but you may potentially pass the virus to many other people causing a lot more to get sick.

The Government of Ontario announced today that Ontario's Stage 3 will not include the opening of Canada's Wonderland, and i think it's a good move personally. There's way too much risk at this point. Ohio and Ontario aren't too far off in population, Alarming that on July 10, Ohio reported over 1,500 cases, while here in Ontario, we have been reporting roughly 110-130 daily cases for the past two weeks.

My concern about the parks opening as well is how 'militant' will associates need to be with guests wearing masks. If security doesn't immediately kick them out than I think there's way too much risk in keeping the park open.

So in this age of Covid-19 and "defund the police", you arrived here tonight---at KI Central---to say the park should not be open. And furthermore if they are open, mere associates must be "militant" about mask-wearing? This must be the Twilight Zone, no?

[MisterSG1]

9 minutes ago, bjcolglazier said:

So in this age of Covid-19 and "defund the police", you arrived here tonight---at KI Central---to say the park should not be open. And furthermore if they are open, mere associates must be "militant" about mask-wearing? This must be the Twilight Zone, no?

Militant in the sense that taking your mask off will not be tolerated and will be grounds for immediate ejection from the park. Similar to if you stand up on a roller coaster. This is how serious this should be taken.

Since the theme parks opened in Ohio, there has not been a single day with a sub-800 case count.

It's not exactly the twilight zone, or maybe it is, when you consider that for the first time ever in history, Canada is basically demanding to have the border closed against the US. Heck, a good chunk of policy in Canada's history was keeping that border flowing as efficient as possible. Honestly, the border should remain closed until the US can reach daily new cases of around 2,000 a day, which I sadly don't see happening anytime soon.

[bjcolglazier]

If anyone cares to do some reading there are some really good articles from the New England Journal of Medicine regarding the difference between prolonged indoor exposure to Covid-19 infected persons vs. casual outdoor pass-by.

[SnakePlissken]

3 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

We don't ban people for having a political opinion. We do understand this topic is hard to discuss without politics. Respectfully, we do ask to try and  keep politics out of it, because nothing good ever comes out of that. Lastly, people come to KIC to get away from it, not read more about it.

Your last sentence is dead on and for months I've felt like this forum is anything but. It keeps getting worse and I'm tempted to just leave. 

[gforce1994]

47 minutes ago, SnakePlissken said:

Your last sentence is dead on and for months I've felt like this forum is anything but. It keeps getting worse and I'm tempted to just leave. 

Here’s the thing, we are a ki and theme park forum and to ignore something that has completely altered the landscape of the industry is wrong. 
 

[King Ding Dong]

I don’t get it. The forum has topics and for the most part conversations stay on topic so if one doesn’t want to read about NASCAR or MLB or Food or Rona or anything else just don’t click on those topics. Are there people that just don’t have the ability to not read a topic they are not interested in?  That seems really strange to me. I don’t really care about golf but it’s not like I want to cancel my TV service because they carry the Golf Channel.  I don’t think I have ever clicked the NASCAR thread except by accident and it was really easy to bail, I mean seriously easy.  

[RollerCoasterAirtime]

Good Review for our park!

 

[alsoran]

I have read many of the comment here and I may get political without trying to.  I don't believe we have any idea on what we are facing.  I think it may be funny that Nov. 3rd we will no longer hear about this, that is my prediction.  I have heard that nurses have tested this system and sent unused covid tests in to see what happened and they came back positive.  One individual had went to get tested and changed his mind after signing up and left, and got results saying he was positive.  With a 99% survival rate, how is this much worse than any other flu we deal with most of the time.  I have had a friend that his wife died and was told it was covid from the hospital, to find out later from the doctor that there was a 0% chance of that being true.  We have inflated the numbers in the U.S. to put fear into the general population.  

Does this mean there isn't an issue?  No, that is not what I am trying to say.  What I am saying is, you cannot talk about this without realizing the media has made this into more than it really needs to be.  Do I wear a mask everywhere I go?  No, but I will not complain about somewhere that requires them.  I keep my distance, wash my hands, and do my best to practice safe hygiene.  Am I correct in my understanding?  Maybe not, but, I also don't believe we, the general public, have any idea what the truth is.  Rant over.  

For those that disagree with me, so be it.  I do not have all the facts and could very easily be wrong, I am just stating the obvious things I see.  

[MoreFogPlease]

26 minutes ago, alsoran said:

I think it may be funny that Nov. 3rd we will no longer hear about this, that is my prediction.

You think practically every other country in the world shut down their economy for 2+ months, just to stop Trump from getting reelected?

 

26 minutes ago, alsoran said:

With a 99% survival rate, how is this much worse than any other flu we deal with most of the time.

In a typical flu season there are 12,000 to 61,000 deaths. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html  So, we have had twice as many deaths as a bad flu season, in a third of a year. Our deaths from Covid-19 are on a pace that is about 20x worse than a "good" flu season, and about 6x worse than a bad flu season.

 

26 minutes ago, alsoran said:

I have heard that nurses have tested this system and sent unused covid tests in to see what happened and they came back positive.

Any source for this?

[jsus]

25 minutes ago, alsoran said:

I may get political without trying to.  [...] I think it may be funny that Nov. 3rd we will no longer hear about this, that is my prediction

Wait, what?  You just made this entirely political, and you say that was unintentional..?  Kinda blows holes right through the rest of your "rant".

Couple things, though.  "Recovered" doesn't mean "good as new, like it never happened".  There will be many people who not only have lasting symptoms synonymous with COVID-19, but also those who have lung, etc., damage from both the disease and treatment.  Ventilators aren't exactly gentle on the body, for instance.  Looking solely at death counts does not give you nearly the whole picture on this pandemic.

There is always going to be fraud and bad data any time humans are involved.  If you were telling me that the majority of labs, the majority of tests were faulty or fraudulent, then I'd be concerned.  Saying that some bad actors fall through the cracks in the mad rush to acquire enough resources to test for the virus, and to treat those who fall ill, does not suddenly invalidate those who are truly suffering and even dying from this virus.

But hey, you're not going to make it political, at least not until your third sentence.  That was a quick 180º.

[alsoran]

In a typical flu season there are 12,000 to 61,000 deaths. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html  So, we have had twice as many deaths as a bad flu season, in a third of a year. Our deaths from Covid-19 are on a pace that is about 20x worse than a "good" flu season, and about 6x worse than a bad flu season.

Have all these been from Covid only, or were they heart related, but because they tested positive for Covid, that is the reason for death?  I never said I was an expert and only stating my opinion.  Not arguing, just wanted to share what I am seeing.  I read somewhere, I cannot give credit as I am not sure where I read it, that the number of overall deaths has not changed from the past 3 years to the same time from this year.  I think that was listed for the state of Ohio.  Now, did I research it, no.  Do I believe it?  Maybe.  

 

Any source for this? Or is it just the ol Trump "many people are saying"?

This has nothing to do with Trump people, this was local.  No names, as I don't know names, just know that it was local.  I am not a political supporter, I am an American, nit donkey or elephant.

 

By the way, probably didn't insert these quotes correctly, please forgive me.

[DubVLegend]

On 7/8/2020 at 8:50 PM, gforce1994 said:

The park has been and will be enforcing the policies set forth by their precautions. 
They have:

A reservation time system that allows for a set number of individuals to enter the park at a predetermined time.

They have social distancing on lines and rides.

They have minimized interaction between guest and associate to minimize the chances of spread.

They have set up temperature checks and cleaning procedures.

They have a pre visit medical questionnaire.

They have reduced capacity of dining facilities and arcades.

They have set up markers to set up queue flow in regions of high congestion.

KI has set up a comprehensive strategy to try to operate in light of a devastating pandemic. The park is determined to ensure safe and clean operations.

They have been thorough in reminding guests to keep their masks on. There’s only so many ways one can instill urgency of using said masks before guests will become terrified or agitated. The smartest thing KI did was requiring masks to be worn, as it forced the guests to follow in the footsteps of what associates and executives are doing.

I hope you didn’t take my post wrong. Kings Island and the employees has done an excellent job and better then any public place I’ve seen. I was just referring to the fact that we have a lot of people who can’t follow rules and how they could possibly make them follow the rules better.

[malem]

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are now requiring Ohioans to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200714/new-york-2-other-states-say-visitors-from-ohio-must-quarantine-for-14-days

 

5 hours ago, alsoran said:

This has nothing to do with Trump people, this was local.  No names, as I don't know names, just know that it was local.  I am not a political supporter, I am an American, nit donkey or elephant.

There's a lot of misleading and false information going around, unfortunately. A localized, significant increase in the percentage of tests coming back positive (like we've seen in many states) isn't due to errors inherent in testing. This metric is important for understanding how and where the virus is spreading so that it can be controlled.

Recent studies on T-cell COVID-19 immunity have indicated that immunity among the population might be higher than antibody tests indicate. This is almost certainly very good news.

However, uncontrolled spread in the community is still dangerous even if immunity is further along than we thought. We don't yet know how many of those among the recent spike in cases will die or suffer long-term health consequences. We do know how to slow the spread: face coverings, social distancing, limiting large gatherings, and good hand hygiene.

[FalenLacer9]

3 hours ago, alsoran said:

I have heard that nurses have tested this system and sent unused covid tests in to see what happened and they came back positive. 

Statements like this are not only false but dangerous as it undermines those trying to save lives. I've talked to a nurse about this, and tests don't just sit around to be sent in blank. They have to be ordered from the lab for a specific patient by a doctor.  This is just unsubstantiated rumor that I keep hearing without a shred of proof. 

Oh and the hospital she works at has a full Covid unit and people die regularly from the disease. Please take this seriously. 

Edited July 14, 2020 by FalenLacer9
Misspelling

[robintodd]

25 minutes ago, FalenLacer9 said:

Statements like this are not only false but dangerous as it undermines those trying to save lives. I've talked to a nurse about this, and tests don't just sit around to be sent in blank. They have to be ordered from the lab for a specific patient by a doctor.  This is just unsubstantiated rumor that I keep hearing without a shred of proof. 

Oh and the hospital she works at has a full Covid unit and people die regularly from the disease. Please take this seriously. 

Agree 100%.  My wife is a nurse (35+ years) and also worked as the manager of the office of research for a little while.  Testing kits are kept locked up and handed out just like medication.  Counts are done and all kits must be accounted for.

As far as results from "unused tests".  You do know they can see the difference between a swab that has been used and one that has not, right?  Not saying the test is infallible, but I would hope that with the state of things the way they are now and amount of time it takes to get a result from the current levels of testing that anyone who sent through an unused test would be reprimanded for using up resources that could be better used for the common good.  Not to mention it would violate the Hippocratic oath all medical professionals take. 

[lifetimecoaster]

51 minutes ago, FalenLacer9 said:

Statements like this are not only false but dangerous as it undermines those trying to save lives. I've talked to a nurse about this, and tests don't just sit around to be sent in blank. They have to be ordered from the lab for a specific patient by a doctor.  This is just unsubstantiated rumor that I keep hearing without a shred of proof. 

Oh and the hospital she works at has a full Covid unit and people die regularly from the disease. Please take this seriously. 

 I think that information gets shared like that because people just can't actually wrap their heads around the idea of something like this happening, because we've never seen anything like this in any of our lifetimes. The reporting of information has been nearly criminal in my opinion. So much misinformation is allowed to just stream out to everyone, and due to social media, it spreads like wildfire. 

[King Ding Dong]

An interesting thought experiment: At what point is this kind of BS the equivalent of screaming “Fire!” In a theater?