Masks no longer required outdoors at WDW

[wideeyedwonder]

No, no one is preventing me from wearing a mask. But as experts have pointing out consistently over the past year, the mask isn't to protect yourself - it's to protect others. It protects the wearer a little bit but certainly not completely. So if you have asymptomatic covid, and I'm wearing a mask but you're not, the chance that I will contract it is significantly higher than it would be if you were wearing a mask.

if it helps any, in studies I’ve seen, wearing a mask yourself cuts your own risk by 65%, similar to the one shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine:

“A range of new research on face coverings shows that the risk of infection to the wearer is decreased by 65 percent, said Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital.”

So if you are unvaccinated, continue to wear a mask, as per the CDC guidelines. And if you are partially vaccinated, or have partially vaccinated kids, have them continue to wear masks, knowing that with a mask and partial vaccination, and dropping case numbers, they are likely adequately protected.

I know this can come down to personal risk tolerance.

 

[suse66]

I am loving the positive news from the CDC and Disney! It really feels as though we are turning a corner. We are not quite there in Canada but hopefully will be soon. Now just open the border so we Disney loving Canadians can go "home". ❤

 

[brockash]

7DMT the spillover cast member didn’t say anything when we went past to anyone... but the ones at the official queue entrance did. We haven’t ridden but did overhear as we were in the area. Not sure if this is standard or not...
Everything is still 6 ft apart.

I'm 99% positive this will be the reality of the practice at WDW. - I don't want to debate with ppl about the actual policy or where the line starts etc., but just from my experience with Disney...as was mentioned last night I am sure they're not going to say anything about wearing your mask until your in the official/regular que line.

 

[AUDramaQueen]

I just bought extra masks for my trip next week so you can thank me for the policy change. Just like it won't rain if I bring my umbrella, etc, etc

ETA: I think this is great policy and am very excited not to have to wear masks outside.

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I’ll tell ya. I’m extremely happy they aren’t making you wear them on the extended queue and only when you reach the actual queue. I was worried about that since then your basically still wearing a mask in the heat all day.

We all know where the official queue begins and when we reach it, mask up.

 

[jordan13402]

I just hope everyone who is excited about not wearing masks are also excited about getting their vaccines.

Seriously, just get vaccinated, people. The more people who are vaccinated, the better chance we'll have of getting back to 100% normal.

This. My whole family will be fully vaccinated in three weeks. (Some of us are halfway there)

 

[jordan13402]

The only thing I care about right now is how CMs basically got thrown to the wolves with this. I feel even more sorry for them than I did before, having to enforce this with the Karens of the World.

Way too many Karen’s on both sides unfortunately

 

[0FF TO NEVERLAND]

I’m vaccinated. Couldn’t care less who’s around me not vaccinated ( unless they are waiting for their shot or waiting to complete )

CDC director yesterday said vaccinated don’t need to wear masks indoor or outdoor anymore because vaccines work. The small amount of breakthrough cases are overwhelmingly asymptomatic, and the viral load is not high enough to infect someone else who’s not vaccinated. ( sure you’ll find a story of something different but that’s majority )

That’s the reason for the guidance. I trusted science before. I’ll trust it now when things are getting better. Cause they are and will continue to in this country. I praise that. I love that. And it’s an emotional thing to me we even reached this point. I wish the ones we lost were here for this moment.

So that’s why I don’t care if they wear masks or not around me. I respect their choices. My friends aren’t. They aren’t anti vax. I respect anyone who continues to wear a mask due to their own comfortableness. But respect the opposite also, and the science says they aren’t a threat to you. Orange County mayor says entire mask mandate will be lifted before the 4th of July. Things are improving by the week. Could be sooner and I expect Disney to follow the same. Mentally that’s hard to grasp, but we’ll get through it. Until then, mask up when you get to that queue. Mask up indoors at Disney until the policy changes and you feel comfortable. And most of all. Enjoy yourself, we’re coming back to normal

 

[NicholeB630]

Yea!!!!! I’m so excited for our June trip. This will make it 100 times better!!

 

[ktink]

Way too many Karen’s on both sides unfortunately

Hey, leave me out of this. I'm a good Karen

 

[DeeBee3]

I’m vaccinated. Couldn’t care less who’s around me not vaccinated ( unless they are waiting for their shot or waiting to complete )

CDC director yesterday said vaccinated don’t need to wear masks indoor or outdoor anymore because vaccines work. The small amount of breakthrough cases are overwhelmingly asymptomatic, and the viral load is not high enough to infect someone else who’s not vaccinated. ( sure you’ll find a story of something different but that’s majority )

That’s the reason for the guidance. I trusted science before. I’ll trust it now when things are getting better. Cause they are and will continue to in this country. I praise that. I love that. And it’s an emotional thing to me we even reached this point. I wish the ones we lost were here for this moment.

So that’s why I don’t care if they wear masks or not around me. I respect their choices. My friends aren’t. They aren’t anti vax. I respect anyone who continues to wear a mask due to their own comfortableness. But respect the opposite also, and the science says they aren’t a threat to you. Orange County mayor says entire mask mandate will be lifted before the 4th of July. Things are improving by the week. Could be sooner and I expect Disney to follow the same. Mentally that’s hard to grasp, but we’ll get through it. Until then, mask up when you get to that queue. Mask up indoors at Disney until the policy changes and you feel comfortable. And most of all. Enjoy yourself, we’re coming back to normal

I just want to commend you for such a well written and deeply sensitive post. I am in the same boat as you, but I don't know if I could have said it the same way!

 

[OregonDisDad]

Also because many of us who are getting vaccinated aren't fully protected yet. Keep in mind that they just opened it up to people 16-40 less than a month ago in many places, and it takes at least


I'm in California. They just opened it to 16+ on April 15, and appointments were very hard to come by the first couple weeks as people were first eligible. It takes 6 weeks from first shot to full protection, so even assuming someone got an appointment the very first day, they wouldn't be protected until the end of this month. The effectiveness rate after the first shot isn't fantastic - it's much better than nothing, but nowhere near the level of protected I would want if I were at Disney and suddenly no one was wearing masks anymore.

Throughout this pandemic, people have made decisions based on whatever metrics or risk assessments they value. I know we did when we went last winter - considering what we felt comfortable with, what made us uneasy, even choosing airlines based on how full they were packing passengers and how good their mask enforcement was in general. There were things we chose not to do that others did, and that's perfectly fine. But this is a huge change with no warning whatsoever. Prior to this week, Disney had 6' distancing, mandatory masks everywhere except while actively eating and drinking, and a lower park capacity. Suddenly without any warning whatsoever, all of those protections are out the window. If I were at the parks this week, I would be really ticked off, because I would have been promised protocols to help reduce spread of the deadly virus, only to find that those protocols were no longer in existence without a change in the medical realities of the country. Only 1 in 3 adults is fully vaccinated, and no one under 16 is. While kids have a lower risk of severe covid cases, we know they can be carriers and transmit cases to adults who do get severe cases. Given how much of a struggle it was to enforce people wearing masks before, I can only imagine how much worse it will be if people only need to wear them intermittently. I can't imagine people will have the masks on in outdoor lines, even when packed together now, waiting for long periods of time because park capacity is back up to "normal busy day." So in essence, there are no longer precautions being taken at Disney - and people have a right to know that when making their decisions about trips.

No, no one is preventing me from wearing a mask. But as experts have pointing out consistently over the past year, the mask isn't to protect yourself - it's to protect others. It protects the wearer a little bit but certainly not completely. So if you have asymptomatic covid, and I'm wearing a mask but you're not, the chance that I will contract it is significantly higher than it would be if you were wearing a mask.

Disney has constantly said that it was implementing Covid policies based on CDC guidance, and guidance from local health authorities. CDC, Florida and Orange County have all lifted the mask mandate outdoors (for everybody). Therefore, Disney is doing exactly what they said they would do (and actually is being more cautious than the guidance indoors).

I’m not sure how Disney could create a policy that would align with the metrics and risk assessments that each attendee values. They quite simply are inconsistent. The situation also seems to change day-to-day. We’ve been told to trust the science, and when guidance seems inconsistent, to understand that conclusions change as we get more information. It seems that people who have particular expectations of what will be required during Covid should consider not planning something weeks or months out. The pandemic (and the reaction to it) is too unpredictable to allow rigid plans that far out.

As for me, the mask requirements can’t be totally gone soon enough. I’ll be in WDW in June, and am hoping that we continue to see a rapid return to normal.

 

[AliceIn]

This is so dumb. If you can walk around without a mask then you can stand in an outdoor line 3 feet apart without one too.

I was there at the end of March - about 1/3rd of people ignored the markers on the ground and crowded up to the person in front of them. It got very annoying after a while. We've become accustomed to people keeping their distance, so we are very aware of personal space these days.

 

[kevgraub]

This is so dumb. If you can walk around without a mask then you can stand in an outdoor line 3 feet apart without one too.

I guess guessing here, but I suspect the difference is the amount of exposure someone would have to an infected person.

For example, while out walking around, if your nonvaccinated 10 year old passes by an infected person the chances of catching the virus from them is extremely remote due to the short amount of time you are near them/breathing in their air.

However, if an infected person is standing 3 feet behind your unvaccinated child in line for an hour while waiting to get on SDD, then I suspect the odds of contracting the virus from that person go up considerably given the prolonged exposure.

 

[GAN]

I guess guessing here, but I suspect the difference is the amount of exposure someone would have to an infected person.

For example, while out walking around, if your nonvaccinated 10 year old passes by an infected person the chances of catching the virus from them is extremely remote due to the short amount of time you are near them/breathing in their air.

However, if an infected person is standing 3 feet behind your unvaccinated child in line for an hour while waiting to get on SDD, then I suspect the odds of contracting the virus from that person go up considerably given the prolonged exposure.

Exactly. They're also playing it safe like they have been all along. In Disney's position, it would be dumb to NOT be as cautious as possible.

 

[Katers]

I’m vaccinated. Couldn’t care less who’s around me not vaccinated ( unless they are waiting for their shot or waiting to complete )

CDC director yesterday said vaccinated don’t need to wear masks indoor or outdoor anymore because vaccines work. The small amount of breakthrough cases are overwhelmingly asymptomatic, and the viral load is not high enough to infect someone else who’s not vaccinated. ( sure you’ll find a story of something different but that’s majority )

That’s the reason for the guidance. I trusted science before. I’ll trust it now when things are getting better. Cause they are and will continue to in this country. I praise that. I love that. And it’s an emotional thing to me we even reached this point. I wish the ones we lost were here for this moment.

So that’s why I don’t care if they wear masks or not around me. I respect their choices. My friends aren’t. They aren’t anti vax. I respect anyone who continues to wear a mask due to their own comfortableness. But respect the opposite also, and the science says they aren’t a threat to you. Orange County mayor says entire mask mandate will be lifted before the 4th of July. Things are improving by the week. Could be sooner and I expect Disney to follow the same. Mentally that’s hard to grasp, but we’ll get through it. Until then, mask up when you get to that queue. Mask up indoors at Disney until the policy changes and you feel comfortable. And most of all. Enjoy yourself, we’re coming back to normal

YES!! Exactly this! Everyone do what makes you comfortable. This day was coming and it was always going to make some people uncomfortable. I empathize. The fear is still a reality for many. I personally will trust the science even as that science evolves. As we learn more about this virus, we have to adapt. The CDC told us it was safer to wear a mask, now they are saying things have changed (which is a good thing, right?). If you believed in them when it was time to put on the mask, why not believe in them now?

 

[Verity_]

YES!! Exactly this! Everyone do what makes you comfortable. This day was coming and it was always going to make some people uncomfortable. I empathize. The fear is still a reality for many. I personally will trust the science even as that science evolves. As we learn more about this virus, we have to adapt. The CDC told us it was safer to wear a mask, now they are saying things have changed (which is a good thing, right?). If you believed in them when it was time to put on the mask, why not believe in them now?

The CDC has changed the guidelines for fully vaccinated folks.
I think newly fully vaccinated may be getting used to their new situation. Not wrong or right, just adjusting. You sound like you've been vaccinated awhile, which is great.

 

[OregonDisDad]

I guess guessing here, but I suspect the difference is the amount of exposure someone would have to an infected person.

For example, while out walking around, if your nonvaccinated 10 year old passes by an infected person the chances of catching the virus from them is extremely remote due to the short amount of time you are near them/breathing in their air.

However, if an infected person is standing 3 feet behind your unvaccinated child in line for an hour while waiting to get on SDD, then I suspect the odds of contracting the virus from that person go up considerably given the prolonged exposure.

However..., walking around outside, your unvaccinated 10 year old will be exposed to many people (each potentially with Covid), whereas in a line to enter an attraction, you are exposed only to the people immediately around you (and in a much more controlled setting). I agree, though, that the length of time near the same people increases risk of transmission if those around you do have Covid.

Hopefully we can all take some comfort in knowing that an increasing amount of people are vaccinated, or have had Covid (and have antibodies). I also would think it is unlikely that somebody with a high viral load (with Covid) would be walking around in the parks especially as it gets hotter).

 

[HashberryOTG]

Cast Members are still required to wear masks.

I hope cast members get the option soon for those that want to remove them! I assume they won't be able to until guests can remove them while part of the attraction (queues and all that).

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Many of these people were also angry when Disney reopened last summer at all. Some of them came around when they saw things worked out well.

I think it's a bit different now compared to when they opened in the summer. There are children who cannot get a vaccine yet that will be exposed to those just refuse to get one not wearing a mask. There will be those under 2 who cannot wear a mask. In the summer, if you were going, you all had a mask on and those under 2 were semi protected. It wasn't like playing Russian Roulette standing by maskless guests. As slim as the chances are of a child getting a serious case, it still happens