NEWS: California Governor Announces Plan and Target Date for Full Reopening

It feels like we’ve had a lot of news coming in from the West Coast today!

Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure

In case you haven’t seen it yet, today Disneyland announced further details for their reopening, including more information on park reservations, dining availability, and when tickets will go on sale.

Now, we have even more news from California. We learned from the LA Times that the state will be aiming to fully reopen its economy this summer.

Gov. Newsome giving an update on the coronavirus

In a press conference today, Governor Newsom announced that California is aiming for June 15th to be California’s full reopening date, with things returning to “business as usual”, albeit with the continued use of masks.

Screenshot from www.covid19.ca.gov

Newsom also announced that California will hopefully move beyond the colored tier system used for gauging the level of coronavirus cases across the state on the path to reopening.

Screenshot from www.covid19.ca.gov

With the announcement that 20 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered, state officials are now actively planning for the next phase in California — one that Newsom says all counties will enter together.

COVID-19 vaccination tents are set up in the north of the Toy Story parking lot at the Disneyland Resort (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

California plans to make all people 16+ eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine starting April 15th, and state officials are hopeful that increased rates of vaccination will contribute to the state’s ability to reach that June 15th reopening date. Governor Newsom also mentioned that California hopes to drop the minimum age even further to 12 as soon as the FDA grants approval.

When asked for comment, Newsom did note that he did not anticipate the mask mandate being lifted anytime soon. This looks like a positive step for California as many more businesses will be able to reopen and increase capacity, which is also probably a good sign as we look to the reopening of two big theme parks later this month!