Updated March 22nd, 2020: We are temporarily closed in the passionate preservation of the health of our guests and team members. This is, of course, is a very difficult decision as a small family business, but we believe this is the best choice in order to flatten the curve. We look forward to hosting you in the time to come. We will open when it is safe to do and are closely following recommendations of leaders and experts in order to ensure the best environment for the people we serve. We believe that in order to have fun, people need to first know that they are in a safe environment. Amidst all of the concern that is happening worldwide, it is our commitment to caring and serving our guests and team members to do all that we can to provide the safest environment possible. So, in accordance with our values for safety and education, we would like to share with you the precautions we are taking to serve our guests and team members.
It is essential to us that our guests enter into a preventative action park that is putting their safety first and taking significant measures to ensure a safe environment. DeSoto Caverns is currently following the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and also is receiving and following all updates given by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, which has been sharing daily updates on the preventative and best practices of parks worldwide since early January when parks within China, were taking responsive action. Thankfully both of these resources have caring medical and park leaders who are doing everything in their power to prevent further illness and serve the public through preventative and even closure methods. As an active member of the Alabama Tourism Department, DeSoto Caverns is also learning the procedures and processes our state is taking in preventative action. Lastly, our core leadership is enrolling in any educational opportunities and is getting regular updates from the WHO (World Health Organization) and following all updates from the Alabama Department of Health. These excellent resources have created our plan of preventative action which includes the following points along with additional responsibilities of inspection. We are adding additional cleaning duties throughout the day in all areas of contact to prevent the spread of germs by wiping down door nobs, benches, bathrooms, attractions, railing, and other retail and attraction surfaces guests come into contact with during their visit. We have moved the seating within our cafe area to ensure that all cafe seating is 6 feet apart. We have updated limiting our tour sizes to ten guests to comply with the latest update to the CDC as of March 17. We are also wiping down handrails, benches and all areas of contact within the caverns with solutions that are CDC compliant yet also are in the best interest of preserving the Caverns environment as well. Our team is already required and instructed to regularly wash their hands and we have educated them on the CDC guidelines of washing their hands. Our employees have been instructed not to come to work if they exhibit any symptoms of sickness. We are also implementing sickness procedure measures so that our team is utilizing social distancing so that even though no one sick is coming to work, any possible contamination does not spread. We have also implemented the thermal scanning of team members in order to ensure that no team members have a fever. We are taking multiple measures to ensure both our team and our guests are entering a safe zone to have fun and enjoy themselves.
What do all of these sources mean for your visit? DeSoto Caverns is committed to providing you with a safe environment. You can expect a clean environment, healthy team members serving you who truly care about your adventure being fun and safe. Our team is committed to internal education on best practices and swift external responsive action for your benefit. We hope you enjoy your upcoming adventure with us knowing that your safety is important to us.