Disneyland has announced it is shutting down its California theme parks over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
Disneyland and California Adventure in southern California will close on Saturday through the end of the month due to the global outbreak, the company said on Thursday.
After Sunday, Florida’s Disney World will also close to guests through the end of March. And Disney is suspending any new cruise ship departures starting Saturday.
No cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, have been reported at the parks in Anaheim, California, a company representative said in a statement.
Comcast’s Universal Studios theme park in southern California also will close on Saturday and expects to reopen 28 March, the company said.
Earlier on Thursday, Gavin Newsom, the California governor, had recommended against gatherings of more than 250 people to help contain the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than three dozen people in the United States.
As of Thursday there have been 198 cases of coronavirus confirmed in California, with four deaths.
Disney decided to close both its southern California parks after reviewing Newsom’s guidelines “and in the best interest of our guests and employees”, its statement said.
The Disney-run hotels in Anaheim will remain open through Monday to give guests time to make travel arrangements, the company said. Disney will pay its employees during the shutdown and refund payments for hotel bookings, it added.
The move comes amid a slew of recent, high-profile closures and cancellations, from New York City’s Broadway theaters to music festivals and sporting events.
A top federal health official says the US effort to test for the coronavirus is “a failing”, and that the nation’s hobbled testing rollout has left Americans with little indication of how the virus is spreading.
The lack of comprehensive figures means US health providers could quickly be overwhelmed by undetected cases. The effort initially endured delays in getting testing kits out to public health labs, but the stumbles have continued.
Located about 30 miles (48km) south of Los Angeles, the two Disney parks drew 28.6 million visitors in 2018, according to the Themed Entertainment Association.
It is unusual for Disney to close its theme parks. Brief shutdowns have occurred due to hurricanes or the September 11 attacks. Earlier this year, Disney shuttered its parks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo to protect against coronavirus spread.
The company estimated in February that the shutdowns of Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland alone would cost $175m if both remained closed for two months.
