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Six Flags America reopens this weekend
For the past few weeks, people have flocked to Six Flags America because it’s home to one of Maryland’s mass vaccination sites – but starting this weekend, socially-distant crowds will also be gathering there for a very different reason.
BOWIE, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - For the past few weeks, people have flocked to Six Flags America because it’s home to one of Maryland’s mass vaccination sites – but starting this weekend, socially-distant crowds will also be gathering there for a very different reason.
"We’re opening for our 22nd season, which is our longest season in park history," explained Public Relations Manager Joe Pudlick. "We’ve never opened this early in March, and we are so excited about it."
Pudlick went through a long list of health and safety precautions visitors can expect to see at the park, most of which were tested out during an abbreviated 2020 season. The precautions include a mask requirement, temperature checks when guests enter the park, there’s a contactless security system, and reservations are required.
"Those reservations just make sure that we can maintain a safe capacity and that everybody can adequately social distance," Pudlick said.
(Photo by Lance Rosenfield/Prime for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
There are also hand sanitizer stations throughout the park, and they have what Pudlick called the "Super Clean Team," a group of people focused on wiping down high-touch areas like rides, restraints, handrails, and dining facilities.
"We wouldn’t open if we didn’t think we could do it safely," Pudlick added. "2020 definitely proved that we can."
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The park’s experience in 2020 may also help out in terms of the mass vaccination site right next door. Pudlick said there is a separate entrance for the park, and they don’t anticipate any problems between the two.
"In 2020, we had the state’s largest COVID-19 testing site which operated throughout the time we operated," he said. "And we had no issues."
Six Flags America opens to the public this Saturday.