California to announce theme park reopening plans this week

California will reportedly announce reopening guidelines this week for allowing theme parks to resume business after more than six months of pandemic safety measures keeping them closed.

Jesse Melgar, press secretary for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), said reopening measures for parks would be delivered this week, The Orange County Register reported.

The guidelines will be offered by the state’s Department of Health.

The coronavirus outbreak caused theme parks like Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood and other popular attractions to shutter in mid-March.

The move comes as state lawmakers and industry associations have called on the governor to reopen parks across the state. Newsom said two weeks ago the measures for parks would be coming “very shortly.”

The fallout of global pandemic’s economic distress led Disney to announce 28,000 job cuts this week, as low attendance at the company’s parks across the world has caused dramatic losses for the entertainment company’s park sector.

Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, called out California in a statement for the state’s “unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen.”