Reopening Florida's theme parks could be long, slow process

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Reopening Florida's theme parks, among the world's most visited attractions and one of the state's biggest economic engines, could be a long process fraught with logistical and public health considerations, an industry executive told a task force charged with reopening the state for business.

“We are obviously thinking a lot about when and how to reopen. We’ve got multiple teams working on a number of different scenarios,” said John Sprouls, the chief administrative officer for Universal Orlando Resort.

Sprouls made his comments on the third day of meetings by Gov. Ron DeSantis's Re-Open Florida Task Force, an assembly of dozens of leaders representing industry, education and government.

The sessions, conducted via telephone conference calls, were generally sparse on specifics but generous with platitudes meant to boost public confidence in any decision to lift “safer-at-home” orders, reopen business and return normalcy to daily life.

DeSantis again asserted that the state had “flattened the curve” on the global outbreak, noting that reality is far different from the scenario predicted by some models weeks ago.

Speaking to a working group focused on agriculture and healthcare, the governor said Florida had significantly less hospitalizations per capita and deaths per capita than states in the Northeast.

“I can tell you, there were a lot of dire predictions made. People were talking about Florida being the next Italy or New York,” DeSantis said.

Armed with graphs and statistics at his news briefing later Wednesday, DeSantis again contended that Florida is better off than almost all other major states -- from its rate of infections, available hospital beds and per capita deaths.

During a meeting of a committee focused on the...