Nary a face mask was found this week when college students flocked to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., A traditional hotspot for the annual Spring Break ritual of beer, bikinis and tumultuous behavior.
“Florida has not skipped a beat yet,” Michigan resident Jack Gumeinny, 21, told the Sun Sentinel of South Florida as he explored the sunny scene along the city’s famous Strip.
He last visited two years ago, but returned ‘to see how things are with COVID now’, he told the newspaper.
The junior from Davenport University was not surprised by the lack of social distance between his fellow revelators.
“We are not in the risk group,” he said.
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Further south, more party people gathered in Miami Beach, making a Spring Break return this year after ending the party in early 2020, according to the Miami Herald.
“I feel like I needed a break,” Ohio resident Akilah Cooper, 29, told the Herald as she soaked up the sunshine in a red bikini after flying south.
Spring Break makes a comeback. (Fox News)
“I was mentally stressed because I was just in the house and could do nothing,” she added, expressing general frustration among Americans who have been housed in their homes for the past year.
Many business owners and local leaders are happy to see crowds returning to the beaches of Florida, but some unrest continues as the outbreak is far from over.
“With crowds, especially inside bars and without masks, the risk is high that visitors will catch the infection and take it home,” said Dr. J. Glenn Morris jr., Director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, warned. .
“If there is pressure, especially in the bars and without masks, there is a great risk that visitors will catch the infection and take it home.”
The Sunshine States have the highest percentage of different strains of the virus, he told the Herald.
In Fort Lauderdale, Mayor Dean Trantalis told the Sun Sentinel that most beach businesses in the city are pretty good at complying with the mitigation measures. He suggested that reports of recklessness in the midst of the pandemic were largely exceeded.
“People will always find random evidence that they are not complying and it shows that this is the norm,” he said. “Most people are aware of the rules and obey the rules. We have beaches and open air environments, and open air environments are not considered to endanger people. I think people need to spend more time focusing than playing Gotcha. With others people who visit our community. ‘
But local Chad McCoury told the Sun Sentinel he was bothered by what he saw as a comfortable contempt for safety.
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“They were not wearing masks,” he said of parties in one beach cafe. “It looked like a dance club. I was just like, ‘Oh well, we’re only in week one. I hope that’s not how it’s going to be.
As of early Saturday, Miami-Dade County ranks fourth in the country in confirmed cases of coronavirus since the outbreak, with more than 417,000 people sick, while Broward County – home of Fort Lauderdale – ranked 15th with nearly 200,000 confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Miami-Dade, according to the university, finished seventh in deaths, with more than 5,500, while Broward was not among the top 25.