From CNBC:

Disney to lay off 28,000 employees as coronavirus slams its theme park business

Prolonged closures at Disney’s California-based theme parks and limited attendance at its open parks has forced the company to lay off 28,000 employees across its parks, experiences and consumer products division, the company said.

Around 67% of the 28,000 laid off workers were part-time employees, according to a statement by D’Amaro on Tuesday. The company declined to break down the layoffs by individual park locations.

While Disney’s theme parks in Florida, Paris, Shanghai, Japan and Hong Kong have been able to reopen with limited capacity, both California Adventure and Disneyland have remained shuttered in Anaheim, California.

“As you can imagine, a decision of this magnitude is not easy,” D’Amaro wrote in the memo to employees obtained by CNBC. “For the last several months, our management team has worked tirelessly to avoid having to separate anyone from the company. We’ve cut expenses, suspended capital projects, furloughed our cast members while still paying benefits, and modified our operations to run as efficiently as possible, however, we simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while operating at such limited capacity.”

D’Amaro and his team have been working to persuade California state legislators to provide guidelines for reopening parks. Last week, the company provided a media update to highlight the success it has seen at its Florida parks and internationally in Paris, Shanghai and Japan.

The virtual update also showcased the updated safety measures it has in place already. These policies include requiring masks, having sanitation stations widely available, online mobile ordering for meals and cashless pay.

Disney’s coronavirus woes have been “exacerbated in California by the State’s unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen,” D’Amaro said.

That is a huge amount of revenue loss for the company and in taxes for the state.

Then there is the trickle-down effect of all the businesses in the area that will suffer because of the Disney closure.  Local restaurants and hotels that cater to the tourists that come in from out of town.

Disney has shown willingness to be compliant with various restrictions but that is not enough for a pigheaded refusal of the California government to lift its boot off the necks of businesses in California.

When all is said and done, this will be hugely devastating to the local economy.

But at least Governor Newsom tackled the important job of banning gasoline-powered cars by 2035.