Who does Florida governor Ron DeSantis listen to? Tourist town chambers of commerce, or public health experts? It looks like DeSantis went with the tourist town chambers of commerce.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said it's "not uniform throughout the state that you're seeing massive crowds at beaches," despite videos of gatherings in Tampa Bay.
By Doha Madani
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to issue an order to close the state's beaches, despite fears regarding the spread of the coronavirus.
He instead signed an order that would limit parties on beaches to 10 people per group and force any businesses authorized to sell liquor to reduce occupancy by half, DeSantis told reporters Tuesday. The governor said that local governments can make their own decisions but that his order would follow the latest guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"What we're going to be doing for the statewide floor for beaches, we're going to be applying the CDC guidance of no group on a beach more than 10 and you have to have distance apart if you're going to be out there," DeSantis said. "So that applies statewide."
Unfortunately that 10 foot rule isn’t being enforced.
Florida's Department of Health reports 280 cases of residents with the COVID-19 virus, and seven Florida residents have died.
Meanwhile the CDC issued a disturbing new study about how vulnerable younger Americans are to COVID-19.
BY REID WILSON
Early data analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that younger Americans are at substantial risk of experiencing serious medical problems from the coronavirus sweeping the globe.
That data runs counter to some of the early messaging from public health officials in other parts of the world.
A new CDC analysis of more than 2,400 cases of COVID-19 that have occurred in the United States in the last month shows that at least 1 in 7 and perhaps as many as 1 in 5 people between the ages of 20 and 44 who contract the virus require hospitalization, a level exponentially higher than the hospitalization rates for influenza.
Mingling the Spring Break visitors with Florida’s elderly residents is a recipe for Community Spread among Florida’s most vulnerable population, retirees.
.
UPDATE: