On April 1, 2020 Ron DeSantis issued a sat at home order which was to last 30 days. The order limits movement outside homes to providing or getting
essential services or carrying out essential activities and applies to
interaction with other people outside of residents’ homes. 17 days later he issued an order allowing Florida beaches to open. With the state experiencing 27,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry was the first to decide to open it’s beach prompting #FloridaMorons hashtags on Twitter. On the day DeSantis allowed municipalities to open their beaches, there were 1,400 new infections, in the state’s highest one-day jump yet. Curry seems to feel that by limiting gatherings to less than 50 people will keep the beaches safe. Jacksonville has the largest population of any city in Florida at 900,000 people. With 794 cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths so far it has become a hot spot.
Other cites including Coco Beach are planning to open their beaches soon. Coco will allow locals to sunbathe and sit in chairs on beaches, as long as
people practice social distancing and don’t gather in groups of more
than five people.
Lake Worth Beach City Commissioner Omari Hardy weighed in on Twitter, “When a person
doesn’t believe in science, they do dumb things. When a person in power
doesn’t believe in science, they do dumb things that hurt the public.
This move is so dumb that I had to make sure it wasn’t fake news. You
guys, it isn’t fake news.”
According to DeSantis, “You look at how this disease is transmitted, it’s transmitted
overwhelmingly when you are in close, sustained contact with people,
usually in an indoor environment,” DeSantis said. “Going forward, we got
to be promoting people to get exercise, do it in a good way, to do it
in a safe way.” However recent research shows that the virus spreads much further then 6 feet and an ocean breeze is a perfect vehicle to allow the spread.
The Mayor of Miami Beach, Dan Gelber, said in a video statement, “I’m
sorry but we will just have to do without beach access for the near
future,” adding that it’s unlikely that Miami’s beaches will reopen
before early June. Miami-Dade County closed its beaches on March 19, after thousands gathered at the beach
for Spring Break. As of April 22, there are more than 10,000 confirmed
cases and more than 200 deaths of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade county.
Some from Orlando must have also flocked to Jacksonville, where hundreds crowded together in line and then rushed the beach when it opened at 5pm on April 17, since vehicles with surf boards strapped to the roof were seen leaving town. Social distancing seemed to be the last thing on anyone’s mind when the beach opened. Thousands of people were seen on the beach within 26 minutes of the beach opening. The decision to open beaches goes against Trump’s re-opening recommendations that cases should have declined for 14 days.
As of today April 23, 2020 Florida has 28,576 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 927 deaths. 60 people died today from the virus.