Since March, people concerned about COVID-19 have found a host of places to socially isolate themselves — some in houses, some in apartments and some in haunted towns. But one resident of Florida decided to aim high for his choice of quarantine retreat: Discovery Island, a now-shuttered part of Walt Disney World.
On one hand, it’s not hard to see the logic here: the island has been closed to the public since 1999, putting it pretty high on the list of places you’re not likely to wind up infected. On the other hand, there’s the fact that it’s illegal to go there.
Writing at io9, Julie Muncy has the details of one high-concept quarantine plan gone awry. Police discovered Richard McGuire, age 42, on the island. He’d been there for a few days already; he planned to stay for a while longer. And then things got a bit contentious:
According to the police, the man reported that he was unaware the island, in fact, was a restricted area on private, Disney property. “Richard stated that he was unaware of that and that it looked like a tropical paradise,” the arrest report says. When police found McGuire, they used a public address system to inform McGuire that he would have to leave, but he stayed anyway.
This, in turn, led the police to arrest McGuire.
All told, McGuire’s unexpected solution to the question of social isolation is a fine example of outside-the-box thinking. Unfortunately, it’s also considered trespassing, which is where the issues begin. But it’s certainly not a plan that lacked for ambition.
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