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Coronavirus: Impact on Theme Parks

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
I went to M&S yesterday and was hoping for a tasty cream tea.

Some woman in the queue behind me joined without a mask. OK.

She starts coughing behind me.

A lot.

In the end I left the queue. It may be she has some pre-existing lung condition or illness but Jesus, if you are already ill and potentially most at risk from the virus, what the **** are you doing going to the shops without a mask.

I will have to leave open that perhaps there was some unknown reason permitting her to legitimately be there with that cough (in which case my ‘evils’ weren’t warranted) but I wasn’t taking that risk.
It’s a tricky situation isn’t it? Some of the mask exemptions, such as asthma, are actually more likely to make folk cough... It’s naturally going to concern some of the people around them.

My better half, Cara, is severely asthmatic, and so exempt, but would rather wear a mask, and does so for 11 hours a day. She says the only slight niggle it causes her asthma is when it’s warm, the super warm air behind the mask irritates it. It doesn’t restrict her breathing or anything, just irritates her.
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
I went to M&S yesterday and was hoping for a tasty cream tea.

Some woman in the queue behind me joined without a mask. OK.

She starts coughing behind me.

A lot.

In the end I left the queue. It may be she has some pre-existing lung condition or illness but Jesus, if you are already ill and potentially most at risk from the virus, what the **** are you doing going to the shops without a mask.

I will have to leave open that perhaps there was some unknown reason permitting her to legitimately be there with that cough (in which case my ‘evils’ weren’t warranted) but I wasn’t taking that risk.
Maybe she just wanted to get to the front of the queue quickly.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
What is this facebook???
Is it related to this mobile telephony that I read about so much but have never indulged in?
Joking aside, I put a HSE complaint in...who bounced it back as it is a Blackpool Council issue, so I redirected it to them...and had zero response.
I’ve been told the EHOs who normally deal with food hygiene and ‘scores on the doors’ inspections have been instructed to carry out covid secure inspections and enforcement. So The Environmental Health team at the local council is, I imagine, the correct place. :)
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
coronavirus.png

The media and political sensation does seem to be exaggerated going by figures at the moment:

If we consider deaths, they have not even reached the figures around 4th of July when we were happy to ease restrictions.

Now indeed those figures MAY go up soon. I'm not so sure they will considering that out of all tests only 1 - 1.5% are resulting in positive cases.

The significant figure is the hospital admissions which in fairness have risen to 200 daily. But again that is about the same figure as we had towards the end of June.
If that figure does not rise exponentially in the next week or so this second wave really is an exaggeration (see how quickly that figure rose in March for example).

 
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Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
Sir Patrick Vallance scaring the UK public by suggesting there COULD be 50.000 daily cases in the UK in less than a month's time. Of course no figures on how many hospital admissions or deaths that means, now it is only about cases suddenly. Vallance did say 200 deaths per day by November potentially without action.

He is the government's chief scientific advisor.
So if that is all the case and suddenly this covid 19 is exponentially going to go crazy do masks help or not OR make things worse?

It all makes no sense any more what any of these so called experts are suggesting with their scenarios.


Also according to Joe Biden 200 million people will have died from Covid 19 just during his speech yesterday.

Is this all becoming a non stop political game or should we really forget about going on an American roller coaster for the next 5 years?
The AstraZeneca vaccine apparently is on hold and only had an 50% effective rate.

A CDC director last week suggested that masks are more effective than vaccines!

?

Anyway, I reckon parks will be closing again in the UK if this scaremongering continues this week. I really can't see how they can stay open at this rate. Halloween events, the very few that remain, could be off the cards again.
 
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Dar

Hyper Poster
Masks work, but only when enough people wear them. Unfortunately, people don't wear them because...reasons?

They're probably talking about cases rather than deaths and hospitalisations because now we know that it can have long term effects even if you didn't have bad symptoms during infection.

It's been fascinating watching people doing backflips just to avoid doing as they're told, by the people they elected to tell them what to do!
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
It's been fascinating watching people doing backflips just to avoid doing as they're told, by the people they elected to tell them what to do!

There has been quite a bit of backflipping from advisors and politicians as well though:

Prof Whitty said: “In terms of wearing a mask, our advice is clear: that wearing a mask if you don’t have an infection reduces the risk almost not at all. So we do not advise that.”

“The only people we do sometimes use masks for are people who have got an infection and that is to help them to stop it spreading around," he added.

Instead of using face masks, Prof Whitty advised members of the public to regularly wash their hands for roughly 20 seconds.
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
It's almost like scientists can change their minds when presented with new and better data and information.
Of course they can but people can also change their mind for who they voted for if they keep getting told things they don't like or agree with when they have better information.
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
Do you really think a change of political party in charge is going to make much of a difference to infection rates?
I never suggested anything of the sort.

Masks help to minimise the spread of the disease...disinformation doesnt help, even on rollercoaster sites.
I actually pointed out that most disinformation is a direct result from what politicians and so called experts have suggested themselves over the last 6 months but that seems lost on you.

This is a discussion of the effects of Covid 19 on theme parks and indeed the disinformation of Covid 19 plays a part in how people react or are not reacting. This is not a place to get the latest information on how you should deal with the virus in legal terms.

If it were I think this place would need to be far more moderated and I doubt there would be much point for anyone to post a comment. And indeed all historical posts would need to be removed.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Pubs in the UK to close for 10pm and table service only by law!

Means absolutely no negative impact for us... As we’ve been operating this way since July!

Does mean we will no longer have to put up with the odd awkward customer saying “but we don’t have to do this at x, we just go up to the bar!” ???
 

witchfinder

Hyper Poster
Of course they can but people can also change their mind for who they voted for if they keep getting told things they don't like or agree with when they have better information.
You can change your mind for who you voted for, sure, but that won't magically make them step down I'm afraid. We are most likely stuck with this Government and all their terrible, self-serving decisions for the next 4 years or more and the people to blame are those that voted for them last year... :(

Anyway, back on topic. Had my first theme park visit last week to Legoland and overall it was pretty good. Not many wearing masks where they didn't have to and plenty of idiots unable to follow a simple one-way system but I couldn't really fault the measures the park had put in place (just some of the people they had allowed in!) Social distancing was observed reasonably well but it was a quiet day - I imagine it would have been hell during the Summer holidays but that's true for Legoland regardless I believe.

Also went to Africa Alive zoo in Norfolk which had pretty decent measures in place, and then to Pettitt's Animal Adventure Park which wasn't so good but we managed to avoid most people and wore masks most of the time - hardly anybody else did though, including most of the staff!
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
Anyway, back on topic. Had my first theme park visit last week to Legoland and overall it was pretty good. Not many wearing masks where they didn't have to and plenty of idiots unable to follow a simple one-way system but I couldn't really fault the measures the park had put in place (just some of the people they had allowed in!) Social distancing was observed reasonably well but it was a quiet day - I imagine it would have been hell during the Summer holidays but that's true for Legoland regardless I believe.

Also went to Africa Alive zoo in Norfolk which had pretty decent measures in place, and then to Pettitt's Animal Adventure Park which wasn't so good but we managed to avoid most people and wore masks most of the time - hardly anybody else did though, including most of the staff!

To be fair I've not been to loads of places but for me Blackpool Pleasure Beach still seems/seemed the most consistent with staff wearing masks everywhere. In most supermarkets I've been to I've seen several staff members not wear them. Fair enough they are behind shields a bit at the checkouts but not completely, which is thus surprising.
It will be interesting to see if there are any changes with staff mask wearing now that the rules are a bit stricter again.

I'm glad for the moment that UK parks can stay open. I just hope that doesn't change.
On the other hand I don't think the pub / restaurant curfew will do that much on its own.
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Following the announcement yesterday from UK government, theme parks are specifically mentioned in the groups of businesses that must be closed by 10pm - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-covid-19-what-has-changed-22-september

Businesses selling food or drink (including cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants), social clubs, casinos, bowling alleys, amusement arcades (and other indoor leisure centres or facilities), funfairs, theme parks, adventure parks and activities, and bingo halls, must be closed between 10pm and 5am. This will include takeaways but delivery services can continue after 10pm (from 24 September).

I wonder how strict this rule will be in practice, and the consequences it could have. In particular, will parks not be able to have riders on any rides past 10pm? Could cause issues for Blackpool's 10pm closing for example, and have ramifications for Thorpe and Towers' 9PM closures, when some rides still have long queues at closing time.
 

Nicky Borrill

Strata Poster
Following the announcement yesterday from UK government, theme parks are specifically mentioned in the groups of businesses that must be closed by 10pm - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-covid-19-what-has-changed-22-september


I wonder how strict this rule will be in practice, and the consequences it could have. In particular, will parks not be able to have riders on any rides past 10pm? Could cause issues for Blackpool's 10pm closing for example, and have ramifications for Thorpe and Towers' 9PM closures, when some rides still have long queues at closing time.

It is very clear (for pubs at least) that closed means closed, as in customers have left the premises. Boris actually stated that himself.
 

Professor

Previously AndrewRollercoaster
Probably just close the queue lines a bit earlier to ensure everyone is booted out of the parks well before 10pm.

I would imagine less people would be inclined to join queue lines late anyway from now on knowing this curfew exists.
 
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