Orange County Stops Short of New Mask Mandate, Requests Businesses to Follow CDC Mask Guidelines
As COVID cases along with hospitalizations continue to peak in Orange County, Florida – home of Walt Disney World – Mayor Demings has just announced that he has signed a new state State of Local Emergency. In addition, Mayor Demings cannot legally institute a mask mandate per state laws but he is strongly encouraging that masks me worn by all residents and guests at all indoor locations.
Image Credit: Disney
During a press conference today, Mayor Demings shared that Orange County is one of the county’s participating in the CDC’s Wastewater Treatment program. This program can give officials an idea of a COVID breakout as far as 4 to 10 days in advance. With the data they currently have from this program, it appears that COVID cases in the county have not yet reached their peak.
Mayor Jerry Demings
Image Credit: Orange County, Florida
As recent numbers go, just yesterday, Orange County broke a record for the number of new COVID cases in a day at 1371. The current 14-day rolling positivity rate for the county is 15.58% which has tripled in just weeks. For a pandemic to be “under control,” the percentage would need to be under 5%.
In addition to strongly encouraging all guests and residents of Orange County to wear mask indoors, he is also pleading with local employers to mandate vaccines for all employees. He said, “If we pull together, we can prevent a major collapse of the economy.”
As for masks at Walt Disney World: When asked specifically during today’s press conference what this mean for the local theme parks, he said, “I expect all of our theme parks to follow the CDC recommended guidelines.”
While Mayor Demings and Orange County cannot mandate masks anymore because of state laws but private business such as Walt Disney World can re-institute mandates.
Will masks soon be gone at Walt Disney World?
Image Credit: Disney
Just yesterday, the CDC announced that they would be revising their mask recommendation and stated that all citizens should wear a mask indoors regardless if they are vaccinated or unvaccinated.
Either way, it looks likely some type of statement will be coming from Disney and Walt Disney World. At this time, we are just not sure if they will be requiring masks indoors once again or recommending them.
Image Credit: Disney
Make sure to keep it here for all the latest on mask mask and COVID news coming out of Orange County, Florida and Walt Disney World. You can count on us to be the first to let you know what Walt Disney World decides on the latest mask guidance from Orange County and the CDC.
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