Disney Chairman Bob Iger is among the group of business leaders selected to a special California task force focused on reviving the state's economy amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
It's been more than a month since Disney parks, including California's Disneyland Resort, were temporarily shuttered in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. While many guests are eager to get back, Iger recently outlined some of the challenges as well as potential solutions for parks when it comes to reopening.
"Clearly, making people feel safe from getting the virus is the biggest obstacle and it's clearly complicated," Iger told KABC. "It's not just about-as far as we know-social distancing. It's about taking a number of steps, implementing a number of procedures to make sure that people feel safe."
As many experts have already pointed out, Iger believes expanded testing will be necessary before Disney parks can open their doors again.
"It's likely that we're going to need some mass testing, at scale, and some form of contact tracing as well so that we can identify people who have been exposed or people who have had the virus and may be of harm to others," he added, noting that a vaccine is still likely months to a year away.
Earlier this month, Iger suggested that Disney parks could potentially screen guests for illnesses when they reopen to the public. "Just as we now do bag checks for everybody that goes into our parks, it could be that at some point we add a component of that that takes people's temperatures, as a for-instance," he said in an interview with Barron's.
There's currently no timetable as to when Disney parks will reopen. However, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort call centers are not taking any bookings for the months of April and May, Disney confirmed in late March.
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