Author Topic: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19  (Read 9416 times)

Offline alyssa

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WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« on: March 07, 2020, 09:07:11 AM »
WonderCon is happening in a month.. and a lot of folks have also made plans to go to Disney land. Are folks plans changing and/or evolving?

Personally, I am a *lot* more concerned about a visit to DisneyLand then WonderCon.


Since there doesn't seem to be any signs of relief on the virus impact with the cancellation of ReedPops ECCC and Austin's SXSW on Friday the 7th;

  • What are folks looking at when deciding to go to Disney/WonderCon?
  • What are factors that influence that decision?
  • Any suggestions on what can be done to reduce the impact?

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Offline omraged9

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2020, 10:10:15 AM »
Presuming Wondercon still takes place and there are movie/TV panels still happening, I'd probably just go to the panels and avoid the exhibit hall. If many of the movie/TV panels get canceled, the studios back out, I would probably just not go.

I'm not going to Disneyland but if I were, I'd probably try to avoid areas with big crowds.

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #2 on: Today at 10:39:52 PM »

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2020, 11:05:23 AM »
I already consider it inevitable that my entire family will catch the virus. As such, I'm not panicking about being in crowds or touching things. However, I am worried about the possibility of shutdowns and quarantine, so I am making plans in case that happens.

We will be going to WonderCon and/or Disneyland as long as they are happening. If WonderCOn is canceled and Disneyland is still open, we will be going to DIsneyland. I rented DVC points (non-refundable) to stay at Disneyland, so we lose that money if they do not shut down the park.

Offline perc2100

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2020, 02:22:17 PM »
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WonderCon is happening in a month.. and a lot of folks have also made plans to go to Disney land. Are folks plans changing and/or evolving?

Personally, I am a *lot* more concerned about a visit to DisneyLand then WonderCon.


Since there doesn't seem to be any signs of relief on the virus impact with the cancellation of ReedPops ECCC and Austin's SXSW on Friday the 7th;

  • What are folks looking at when deciding to go to Disney/WonderCon?
  • What are factors that influence that decision?
  • Any suggestions on what can be done to reduce the impact?
I'm just going to be blunt, not intending to insult anybody's intelligence or whatnot.
I was a bit concerned in mid-February, when I had a week off of school as did my sons.  My wife was out of town in DC at a conference, and I was thinking of taking the boys to D-land.  I changed my mind, for two equal (in my brain) reasons: 1) I had a rental car at the time due to work on my car being done and I was super paranoid about someone dinging it in the parking lot (nearly all scrapes and dents in our current vehicles have occurred in public parking lots) and 2) I was worried about the viral outbreak.
Over the last few weeks, I started paying a LOT more attention to the World Health Organization press releases and press conferences.  Now, I'm mostly unconcerned for a few reasons:

1) they stressed that is relatively MUCH easier to get the common cold or flu than coronavirus.  One has to be in physical contact with fluid via coughing or sneezing to contract the coronavirus, where as there are other ways to get the common flu strains.
2) one can significantly improve their chances of not contracting coronavirus by washing their hands constantly and not touching your face before washing hands
3) the mortality rate is significantly higher than the common flu (flu = "far less than 1%" according to WHO, while they reported 3.4% for coronavirus). But, statistically we've seen that mortality rate is significantly higher for older-age demographics (60's-older, with 80+ having a 20%ish mortality rate) and those with respiratory issues.  My wife has asthma, which is of minor concern (she hasn't really needed an inhaler in the 20+ years we've lived in CA, minus the few times she needed it when we've had significant fires that screwed up the air). 

So statistically, my family would more than likely contract the virus, be sick for a bit, self-quarantine under direction of our employers (the same school district employees me that my children go to school in; my wife is employed by the County Office of Education which likely came up with the guidelines my district is using), and go back to work after 14 days or so.

The only thing I'm worried about is a government that is not be transparent or honest about the situation, and seems to be dropping the ball as far as supplying testing kits to hospitals; at the risk of sounding political (I'm an Independent, and generally loathe both political parties) I won't go into more details.
But as far as my family's well-being, I'll continue to wash my hands profusely, encourage them to do the same, and I'll not really be high-fiving, hand-shaking, or any of that stuff for the foreseeable future.  As somewhat of an introvert this is not going to change my ways much!  :P

If my Disneyland passes weren't expired now, I'd definitely want to go there on a weekday since it's an empty time of year!  There are a myriad of ways I can get sick, injured, killed, etc. so this isn't different in my head.  I likely wouldn't take pictures with Disney characters at this time, and I probably wouldn't try to shake hands or whatnot with artists I'd encounter @WonderCon.  Nowadays I keep thinking of the line from Tommy Lee Jones' character in MEN IN BLACK, when Will Smith asks him why they hide aliens from the public since people are smart enough to handle it: he says, "a person is smart; people are stupid, panicky, dangerous animals..." and I tend to believe that.  I personally don't want to add to the panic static and won't become a shut-in just because I might get sick.  This isn't Captain Trips and I'm confident my family & I will be just fine


(cue narrator: "perc2100 died 10 days after posting this after puking out his lungs and heart"  :P :P )

Offline SDcomics

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2020, 08:17:45 PM »
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What are folks looking at when deciding to go to Disney/WonderCon?

Assuming Disney land remains open and WonderCon doesn't get canceled or postponed, I'm going.

Quote
What are factors that influence that decision?

I haven't missed WonderCon since 2011.  I haven't missed Comic-Con since 1982.  I love them too much to even think about staying home.
 
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Any suggestions on what can be done to reduce the impact?

I would direct you to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.  They have a page with everything you need to know about the Corona Virus right You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.

I'm 61 years old and I have congestive heart failure.  Some would say the smart thing for me to do would be to stock up on bottled water and canned food and just stay in the house as much as possible.  But I decided a long time ago that I'm not going to live my life in fear.  That's not really living, is it?

Hope that helps.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2020, 08:28:53 PM »
At the comic-con panel at the fest today, it was still full steam ahead for WonderCon.  No mention was made of covid either from CCI or from the audience.

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I already consider it inevitable that my entire family will catch the virus. As such, I'm not panicking about being in crowds or touching things. However, I am worried about the possibility of shutdowns and quarantine, so I am making plans in case that happens.

I don't think the authorities think they can contain it anymore.  The goal is delay.  There's a very good reason for that.  US hospitals run at full capacity much of the time.  We are in still in flu season which is using up most if not all of the available ventilators.  There is no excess capacity to handle a flood of covid patients.  So hard decisions will have to be made.  If the peak of covid can be delayed until flu season wanes, then more people can be saved that cannot be right now.

Infectious diseases aren't about individuals.  They are about the group.  Even if someone is part of the 80% that will have mild symptoms.  They can still infect the 20% that will have serious symptoms.

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1) they stressed that is relatively MUCH easier to get the common cold or flu than coronavirus.  One has to be in physical contact with fluid via coughing or sneezing to contract the coronavirus, where as there are other ways to get the common flu strains.

I don't know why you think this.  The reason that it's more likely you will contract the cold or the flu is that they are more prevalent than covid.  More people have it so it's more likely that you will run into it.  Not because they are harder to contract.  The way you describe contracting covid is the exact same way the cold or the flu are contracted.  It's through micro droplets.  Whether that's directly from someone sneezing on you or you touch a surface someone sneezed on.  Which is the same for the cold and the flu.  What other ways do you think you can get the flu?

Covid is much more contagious than the flu.  Look at the New York case for a concrete example.  So far, the R0 for covid is at least as bad a the flu and most estimates have it being 2-3 times higher.  So it's 2-3 times more contagious than the flu.

Offline omraged9

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2020, 10:35:52 PM »
I agree, covid sounds insanely contagious from all the articles and stories I've read. Basically if one family member is infected, expect every single person in the same household to be infected. Apparently the Bay Area-bound Grand Princess cruise that has the virus outbreak was thought to have started from a patient zero who has now infected potentially hundreds on one boat. Italy is expected to quarantine 1/4 of their population due to their huge outbreak.

Offline perc2100

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2020, 06:56:58 PM »
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I don't know why you think this.  The reason that it's more likely you will contract the cold or the flu is that they are more prevalent than covid.  More people have it so it's more likely that you will run into it.  Not because they are harder to contract.  The way you describe contracting covid is the exact same way the cold or the flu are contracted.  It's through micro droplets.  Whether that's directly from someone sneezing on you or you touch a surface someone sneezed on.  Which is the same for the cold and the flu.  What other ways do you think you can get the flu?

Covid is much more contagious than the flu.  Look at the New York case for a concrete example.  So far, the R0 for covid is at least as bad a the flu and most estimates have it being 2-3 times higher.  So it's 2-3 times more contagious than the flu.

I got it from the WHO Director-General's presser March 3:
Quote
First, COVID-19 does not transmit as efficiently as influenza, from the data we have so far.

With influenza, people who are infected but not yet sick are major drivers of transmission, which does not appear to be the case for COVID-19.

Evidence from China is that only 1% of reported cases do not have symptoms, and most of those cases develop symptoms within 2 days.
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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2020, 07:42:23 PM »
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I got it from the WHO Director-General's presser March 3:from the transcript: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Yes he said that but he said a lot more than that.  He states that covid and the flu are spread the same way.

"Both COVID-19 and influenza cause respiratory disease and spread the same way, via small droplets of fluid from the nose and mouth of someone who is sick."

He also went on to explain many differences between the flu and covid.  Mainly that many people have a natural immunity to the flu already since it's been around so long.  That we have vaccines and other treatments for the flu that we don't have for covid.  That covid causes more severe illness than the flu.  The mortality rate for covid is about 3 times higher than the flu.

If you look at the FAQ at both the WHO and the CDC of how covid spreads, I think you'll see that it's remarkably similar to both the cold and the flu.

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« Last Edit: March 08, 2020, 07:46:03 PM by chocolateshake »

Offline hikanteki

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #9 on: March 09, 2020, 01:35:09 AM »
The AORN Global Surgical Conference & Expo, scheduled for the end of March at the Anaheim Convention Center, was canceled.

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This follows the postponement (or cancellation) of last week’s Natural Products Expo West, also at the Anaheim Convention Center.

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Offline SDcomics

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #10 on: March 09, 2020, 10:28:51 AM »
The Atlantic posted a great article.  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Offline Miss Kitty

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2020, 05:07:12 PM »
Regarding Wondercon and Disneyland: There are about 30 public restrooms at Disneyland, and a bunch at DCA as well. I know where they are and would was my hands each time I pass one. Same with the Anaheim Convention Center, I will scrub my hands. I will do the Young Frankenstein elbow bump and say "taffeta darling" as I greet friends.

I just went to a crowded San Diego Comic Fest and washed my hands, no hugs (virtual hugs Alyssa!).

Just be smart. Wash your hands longer than the person in the public restroom does. Make a game of it. Washing your hands is the easy part....it's the "don't touch your face" part that's going to be the death of me.

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Offline AzT

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #12 on: March 09, 2020, 10:22:31 PM »
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Offline Louie_rob_m

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #13 on: March 09, 2020, 10:43:59 PM »
My first ever Wondercon so praying it doesn't get canceled!

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Offline marcia29

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Re: WonderCon 2020, Disney, Anaheim and COVID-19
« Reply #14 on: March 10, 2020, 08:27:16 AM »
Unfortunately, if 1 or more cases are confirmed in Anaheim, they may have to move to postpone large gatherings.  So far, no cases. Best of health to all!
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