Florida’s spring break debacle – noisy COVID super-spreader crowds on beaches across the state, in some places where violence is used as a special effect – is the perfect showcase for what ails the state governor: consistently poor judgment .
On March 5th, Governor Ron DeSantis’ State of the State address was an ode to the virtues of having an open state during a deadly global pandemic.
“We have long been known as the Sunshine State – but given the unprecedented lockdowns we’ve seen in other states, I believe that the Florida sun now serves as a beacon for those who crave freedom,” DeSantis said just in time for the annual ritual of sexy drinking and partying on beaches from Panama City to Miami.
Super spreader party
The governor might as well have been standing on the Florida, Georgia, and Alabama border with a sign that said, “Come down and have your COVID super-spreader party here!”
Young, Debunked, and Unvaccinated?
No problem.
A crowd with high risk behavior?
No problem.
Panama City Beach, yes!
So far: three people from Georgia were arrested while shooting a hotel employee. A Kentucky teenager was shot dead and his stepbrother injured. The 12- and 16-year-olds were on vacation with their parents and were hanging out alone on the beach at 1:30 a.m., shot by a local they met.
Daytona Beach, yes!
Around 300,000 in the city for Bike Week alone – and more expected!
Clearwater Beach, yes!
Watch the spectacle of a teenager jumping out of a patrol car and running down the beach in handcuffs!
Miami Beach, yes, yes, yes, sí, sí, sí, the mother of all parties!
The crowd here became so large and unruly that city officials had to declare a state of emergency at the weekend, impose curfews and close bridges, except for residents, hotel guests and workers.
Violence & COVID
The beach police said they had confiscated more than 100 firearms and arrested at least 1,000 people since the spring break began in early February. Forty percent of the arrests were related to crime, and most of them were committed by people outside the city, according to the police chief. The city has enlisted the help of five law enforcement agencies to try to control the crowd.
At least one young woman, a 24-year-old from Pennsylvania, has lost her life. Police say two North Carolina spring breakers drugged her, raped her, stole her cell phone and left her to die in her hotel room. The young men, 21 and 24, celebrated with their credit cards, the trajectories of which were recorded with video cameras in the hotel and in the city.
Add to that the ability to spread COVID-19 while the spring breakers are here – and afterwards when they return to elders or college.
By flaunting that Florida is a state free for all to attract businesses and create chaos for people who make a living from tourism for local executives he left with no authority to enforce masked mandates, regardless of social distancing.
Sure, people are personally responsible for their behavior. But the governor set the table for chaos.
Given the history of pre-COVID debauchery, it’s a joke to beg the flood of exposed, hormonal, vocal teenagers – and the drug dealers, gangbangers, and opportunists who follow the college’s masses – to behave.
If anything, with no gatherings and entertainment happening since March last year, it would only have been reasonable to expect the crowd to get bigger and more exuberant this year. Thanks also to the airlines for flying from Spring Breakers to Miami for fares as low as $ 46.
DeSantis should have foreseen all of this. It is his job to do this.
Last year people could claim ignorance, but data gathered through cell phone records from spring breakers in Florida found that young people who got into spring break in 2020 returned to every point on the US map to find elderly relatives to infect, some of whom died from COVID.
The consequences of hosting large numbers of spring breakers while there are highly contagious variations of COVID were easy to predict. An increase in cases among those under the age of 50 is causing the number of tests to be positive in metropolitan areas where tourism is growing, especially Miami.
But this is Florida, and according to the governor, you can be as stupid, drunk, and exposed as you want.
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Award-winning columnist Fabiola Santiago has been writing about everything Miami since 1980 when the Mariel boat lift became her first cover story. As the Cuban refugee child of Freedom Flights, she is also the author of essays, short stories and the novel “Reclaiming Paris”.
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