Regal to temporarily close theaters across the country on October 8

Jacksonville, FL. — Many businesses across the country are struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cineworld, parent company of Regal, announced that on Monday it will be temporarily closing all of its 536 Regal theaters in the U.S., as of Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020.

In a statement, Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld said, in part, “this is not a decision we made lightly, and we did everything in our power to support a safe and sustainable reopening in the U.S.”

All of its theaters in the U.K. and Ireland will temporarily close as well.

Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, with Baptist Health in Jacksonville, said the closure of local businesses, especially those indoor, could be due to people concerned about the virus.

“To be perfectly honest, I think people are still worried about being in situations where there are a lot of other people around,” Dr. Ransom said.

“When it comes to going out and to different situations, whether it’s restaurants or movie theaters, caution is the most important,” Dr. Ransom said.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, coronavirus cases have increased by 10% in 21 states, most of them in the West.

However, 11 states, including Florida, have seen decreases in the number of positive COVID-19 cases compared to two weeks ago.

“The good news is here locally in Duval County. We have seen the numbers start to decrease,” Dr. Ransom said.

“The number of hospitalizations seems like it’s plateauing a little bit over the last week or so.”

She still urges people to take precautions, saying there may be an increase in November, according to some of Baptist’s predictive models.

“Some of those models do you show an increase,” Dr. Ransom said.

“Some of the factors that have been included in that are our bars are reopening and the impact of schools reopening. We haven’t modeled the holidays at the end of the season.”

Cox Media Group