No face masks were found this week as college students flocked to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a traditional venue for the annual spring break ritual of beer, bikinis and violent behavior.
“Florida hasn’t missed a beat,” Michigan resident Jack Gumeinny, 21, told South Florida’s Sun Sentinel as he watched the sunny scenery along the city’s famous Strip.
He last visited her two years ago, but came back “to see how it is now with COVID,” he told the newspaper.
The junior at Davenport University was not bothered by the lack of social distance between his fellow revelers.
“We are not in the risk group,” he said.
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Further south, more people from the party were gathering in Miami Beach, which is returning to spring break 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, while sunbathing in a red bikini after flying south for a visit.
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“I have been mentally stressed just being at home, unable to do anything,” she added, expressing a common frustration among Americans who have been confined to their homes for much of the past year.
Many business owners and local leaders are happy to see the crowds returning to Florida’s beaches – but some unease persists because the outbreak is far from over.
“With crowding, especially inside bars and without masks, there is a high risk that visitors will acquire the infection and take it home,” warned Dr. J. Glenn Morris Jr., director of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at University of Florida.
“With the crowding, especially inside bars and without masks, there is a high risk that visitors will contract the infection and take it back home.”
The Sunshine State “has one of the highest rates of variant strains” of the virus, he told the Herald.
In Fort Lauderdale, Mayor Dean Trantalis told Sun Sentinel that most of the city’s waterfront businesses were very good at carrying out mitigation measures. He suggested that reports of recklessness in the midst of the pandemic were largely exaggerated.
“People will always find random evidence of non-compliance and make it appear that this is the norm,” he said. “Most people are aware of the rules and obey them. We have beaches and outdoor environments, and outdoor environments are not considered to be putting people at risk. I think people should spend more time focusing than trying to play around. tag with other people visiting our community. “
But local resident Chad McCoury told Sun Sentinel that he was uncomfortable with what he considered a casual neglect of security.
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“They didn’t wear masks,” he said of partygoers at a seaside cafe. “It felt like a dance club. I was like, ‘Oh my God, we’re only in the first week. I hope that’s not how it will be.’
Earlier on Saturday, Miami-Dade County ranked fourth in the country in confirmed cases of coronavirus since the outbreak began, with more than 417,000 people sick, while Broward County – where Fort Lauderdale is located – stayed in 15th place with almost 200,000 confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Miami-Dade ranked seventh in deaths, with more than 5,500, while Broward was not among the top 25, according to the university.