All guests ages 2 and up at Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort will once again be required to wear face masks in indoor spaces across the resort starting July 30.
Guests at both resorts will have to wear face coverings in all indoor spaces, including throughout all attractions. Masks will not be required outdoors and there’s no immediate indication of any return to physical distancing or capacity restrictions.
It was only on June 15 that Disney had pulled back its indoor mask requirement for fully vaccinated guests while recommending — but not enforcing — masks for unvaccinated guests. That was before the Delta variant of COVID-19 fueled a surge in hospitalizations in parts of the U.S, largely among the unvaccinated.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Tuesday that both the vaccinated and unvaccinated return to wearing masks in indoor public spaces in areas with COVID-19 transmission labeled as “substantial” (50-99 new cases per 100,000 people in past 7 days) or high (100 or more new cases per 100,000 in past 7 days).
At the moment, every county in Florida falls into the “high” category. Disney World’s home of Orange County, Florida reported 1,371 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday — the most it has reported in a single day — and hospitalizations are approaching the highs seen last July.
Orange County, California, home of the Disneyland Resort, is in the “substantial” tier.
While neither Orange County, Florida or Orange County, California have reinstituted an indoor mask mandate, theme parks are free to set stricter face covering rules on their own. Disney World, for example, kept requiring masks in indoor spaces for 10 days after Orange County, Florida ended its mandate.