Orange County California COVID-19 Metrics Regress for Theme Park Reopenings

Data released by the State of California shows that Orange County, the county that Disneyland resides in, has regressed in the last week in key metrics that the state looks at to determine the color status of the county.

As a reminder, California Governor Gavin Newsom released guidance for theme park reopening that allows large parks like Disneyland to reopen when their county hits the yellow “minimal” tier on the chart below. Currently, Orange County is in the red “substantial” tier, but their metrics have regressed in the past week.

Data analyzed by BlogMickey.com shows that the Adjusted Case Rate for Orange County has gone up, not down as required by the Blueprint for a Safer Economy tier list.

Data released on October 20th had an adjusted case rate of 4.6 cases per 100,000 residents. The most recent data released by the state shows that on October 27th, that case rate went up to 5.1 cases per 100,000 residents. Also of concern is the rise in the Health Equity Metric from 5.6 to 6.0. The Health Equity Metric was pointed to by Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services, as a way for a large county like Orange County to make it to the yellow tier, noting that San Francisco county made it to the yellow tier via this metric. That is looking less likely as the Health Equity Metric continues to climb.

In all, this means that Orange County, and by extension Disneyland, is set back by not only another week due to positive forward movement, but possibly multiple weeks due to a regression in key metrics. Of course, we’re likely talking months, not weeks, when it comes to a Disneyland reopening, with an Orange County health official predicting a summer 2021 reopening, and a California theme park association calling the closures indefinite.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!