Disneyland workers accuse park of COVID-19 cover-up

Disneyland's reopening has been difficult, to say the least. Fearing the spread of COVID-19, Disneyland unions demanded the park delay its reopening plans in an open letter.

Now, it appears their concerns were warranted.

An extensive report from The Daily Beast details a culture of COVID-19 secrecy that has park employees worried about their health. Eleven members of the 12-person Horticulture Irrigation Team did not appear for work for a week, presumably due to COVID-19 results. Another worker showed up to work five days after testing positive, without a proper two-week quarantine. One worker's spouse sent several whistleblower messages to Governor Newsom's office, with no reply.

Questionable safety practices include a lack of on-site testing, unregulated flow of visitors and a policy discouraging employees from 'ruffling feathers' of maskless patrons. And with no on-site testing, employees claim that unreasonable barriers like long lines and high costs could increase infections.

Positive test results have only been shared with the unions for those specific workers, often days after the tests, making contact tracing between departments much more difficult. But even union officials are unclear on how many cases have been confirmed.

Visit The Daily Beast for the full story, including screenshots of text messages.

Dan Gentile is the culture editor at SFGATE. Email: Dan.Gentile@sfgate.com -- Twitter: @Dannosphere