Experts Confirm COVID-19 Is Surging — Here’s What That Means for Your Disney World Trip

It’s been over four years since COVID-19 shut down the Disney World parks for months.

Slowly but surely, we’ve seen most (the key word being “most”) of Disney’s closed attractions reopen for guests, but there are still some that remain missing. COVID-19 still makes its rounds at different points of the year, and if you’re traveling to the parks this summer and it’s a concern for you and your family, you need to know about this latest news.

As the situation with COVID-19 continues to change and develop, AllEars will be bringing you the latest relevant news that could affect a theme park visit.

CNN News reports that a COVID-19 surge has been on the rise. New variants are rising and are driving up numbers in what’s become an annual summer surge.

The data available shows an upward trend of cases, specifically in the West and the South, with at least 38 states seeing an increase. While “wastewater surveillance suggests that viral activity is still relatively low, hospitalizations and deaths are also ticking up,” per CNN.

While experts have seen upticks in cases in summer in the past due to the virus thriving in hot and moist environments (and boy is it hot and steamy in the South right now), as well as seeing upticks in the winter, it’s still too early to predict to say if the virus will follow the same pattern, as COVID-19 can be unpredictable.

The newest variants traveling around are called the FLiRT variants, which is an “acronym that refers to the locations of the amino acid mutations that the virus has picked up.” Specifically KP.3 and KP.2 now account for half of the cases in the U.S. This newest variant’s changes are that it can more easily bypass the body’s natural immune response and is more easily transmissible.

For those interested, new updated vaccines will be available starting between mid-August and late September, some of which will be targeting the KP.2 strain and others will be targeting JN.1.

So what does this mean for your Disney World trip? Well, we recommend potentially putting a bit more focus on keeping your hands clean, especially before eating. Hand sanitizer is great, but if you can take an extra second to wash your hands with soap and water, that’s even better.

Additionally, we know it is quite unfortunate to be sick on your Disney World trip, but please don’t go into the parks when you’re not feeling well and think it could be because you’re sick with something contagious. You can chat virtually with a doctor using Disney’s partnership with AdventHealth. Not only will you be absolutely miserable on your day in the parks (especially if it’s hot), but you’ll also wear yourself down and may potentially make yourself sicker!

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the latest COVID-19 information that could affect your upcoming Disney World trip, so stay tuned to AllEars.

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