NewsCoronavirus

Actions

Disney parks may take guests' temperatures after reopening, chairman says

Posted at 7:11 AM, Apr 08, 2020
and last updated 2020-04-08 09:13:17-04

Returning to normal could come with some changes at Disney's theme parks, the company's executive chairman Bob Iger said in a recent interview.

Speaking with Barron's Magazine, Iger said the company is discussing is taking temperatures before guests enter parks when they reopen in an effort to protect guests from the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"One of the things that we're discussing already is that in order to return to some semblance of normal, people will have to feel comfortable that they're safe. Some of that could come in the form ultimately of a vaccine, but in the absence of that it could come from basically, more scrutiny, more restrictions," Iger told Barron's. "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."

Iger went on to say that they are looking at how China operates in regard to taking temperatures.

"You can't get on a bus or a subway or a train or enter a high-rise building there—and I'm sure this will be the case when their schools reopen—without having your temperature taken," Iger saod.

Disney's parks have been closed since the weekend of March 16.

Though Disney initially paid park employees during the closure, the company recently announced that it had furloughed non-essential workers.

"Over the last few weeks, mandatory decrees from government officials have shut down a majority of our businesses," a Disney statement read.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek has taken a 50 percent pay cut, while Iger has given up his salary for the year amid the pandemic.

This story was originally published by Mark Saunders on KGTV in San Diego.