In 2004, Thomas Frank wrote an excellent book called What’s the Matter with Kansas, which was about the GOP’s takeover of culture war issues and their systemic takeover of state legislatures, governorships and local governments, and on and on. It was a political analysis of how poor people vote against their own interests, how racist dog whistles work on white voters, how anti-elitism leads to anti-intellectualism which leads to anti-science. Basically, it’s all connected and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And now we’re seeing the generation raised with that kind of profound ignorance and anti-science YOLO sensibilities. Behold, spring breakers in Florida during a global pandemic:
“If I get corona, I get corona. At the end of the day, I'm not gonna let it stop me from partying”: Spring breakers are still flocking to Miami, despite coronavirus warnings. https://t.co/KoYKI8zNDH pic.twitter.com/rfPfea1LrC
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 18, 2020
This is just disgusting, I’m sorry. Throughout the pandemic thus far, I’ve been understanding of why many restaurants are staying open, especially when they’re focusing on takeout and deliveries. But no restaurant or bar should have to deal with this kind of influx of dumbf–k twenty-somethings who think they’re immortal.
Add to all of that, this is happening in the worst state – Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis has been Trumpian in his mishandling of coronavirus. He only ordered bars and restaurants closed a day ago and the order is basically unenforceable because very few of Florida’s local sheriff’s offices are actually going out and telling bars to close down. And DeSantis isn’t closing the beaches either!
And if that’s not scary enough, the New York Times did a story about the elderly population of Florida – which is a quarter of the population in that state – and the lack of tests, funding and resources for them. It’s going to be like Italy down in Florida. The hospitals are going to collapse. What’s the matter with Florida?
stop asking people to feel sorry for those who didn't have enough energy to vote, but have plenty of energy for Lauderdale Spring Break 2020. pic.twitter.com/PEMBwyXquw
— Florida Chris (@chrislongview) March 15, 2020
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Can’t Bernie, their King, intervene and tell the kids to stay home?
I don’t think these are the ones that vote for Bernie. Or the kind to vote at all.
Bingo. The college kids I know who are interested and engaged in politics (and I know many as my own kids are 19 and 21) are not doing this.
Seriously? These look like a group of social progressives to you? Are they partying on the Medicare for All platform? Nothing that wasted ASU frat boys like better than Jewish septuagenarian politicians who self identify as democratic socialists. Please don’t vote. I don’t think you understand who’s who…
These people don’t even know it is an election year.
These aren’t Bernie Bros.
What is going to happen is that the GOP is going to collapse because so many in it chose to stick w/Trump.
And they’ll have a real problem reconstructing the party.
Can’t they close the beaches?
Key West has closed one beach so far but left the others open. This is to be expected of a county that only cares about tax dollars and couldn’t give two sh*ts about the residents. None of this is surprising at all.
The Pinellas sheriff (and thus the county) are against shutting the beaches because they are afraid all the spring breakers are just going to move to restaurants/hotels to party. (At least the state has closed all the bars.)
Clearwater went against the county and has closed its beaches, but there’s what, a dozen small towns along the Pinellas coast line? All they’d have to do is move down to Madeira or Treasure Island or….
At least Tampa/Hillsborough County has pretty much shut down. I’ve noticed that the county is doing more road work at night because there’s hardly anyone on the roads after 10pm.
These drunk kids on the beaches aren’t going to infect The Villages and nursing homes and locals. They are going to go back home and spread it through Tenn, Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, NJ ….
well that’s one way for dumb AF early 20-somethings to make Florida turn blue. they are in for a rude awakening. Killing their own w/the stupidity they are proud of, naturally.
PSA for all the trumpets & repub idiots calling these kids millennials: They are NOT MILLENNIALS. Millennials go from 1982 to 1994. This particular gathering of idiots is from the generation after Millennials, I.e. BORN 1995 & beyond. The oldest ‘Z’ is 25 this year, the oldest Millennial is 38 this year. There are countless sources for this, I literally was taught/worked w/the professor who coined the term Millennials. But it doesn’t matter cuz the older (conservative) gens have a hard-on for blaming Millennials for everything. Also, clearly Gen Z is Not all like this. So many great bright kind kids in that gen & I’m delighted w/them and their compassion. These kids on the beaches…are not that…sadly they were born nonetheless & now we have to deal w/them until they grow up & cringe for eternity that their bold stupid is on the internet F O R E V E R
The beaches in Miami and Fort Lauderdale were ordered closed by the respective mayors but people aren’t listening and there are several small towns/cities that have beachfront and haven’t closed. I’m terrified these spring breakers, Canadians, and returning cruisers are going to kill us all in Florida.
They are going to bring it back home after spring break. A lot of people are only focused on their own symptoms and if they get sick or not. They forget about the impact to others. I think this is a time bomb but I hope it’s not.
Funny, I’m worried about Florida being such a shit show that it’s going to kill Canadians. Borders are probably closing this weekend to all but non-essential travel.
They are calling them The Boomer Remover generation. It’s sad.
I’ve seen it called ‘Revenge of the Millennials’ as they are in the age group that is highly likely to have the virus but not show any symptoms.
The US should not make the same mistake the UK has – the gov needs to shut things like this down.
Which is misnomer, IMO, because the absolute youngest Millenials are twenty-four. The majority are in their thirties, pushing forty. Spring break is late teen/early twenties college era fun. That would be Gen Z. I don’t know why the media keeps pushing it as a boomer/Millennial narrative when the demographics are more complex.
@Veronica, so true. And people 75 and over technically are part of the Silent Generation and the oldest Gen X (aka “the Forgotten Generation) are now in their mid-50s. This Millenial/Boomer thing needs to die.
@Max. 75 here and we were not silent. We were the ones who started college in ‘62, ‘63 and participated in the civil rights, anti war, women’s lib movements. Some of us kept our ideals, some of us didn’t. I peg the Silent Generation as those 80+, the ones who went to college in the Fifties.
They’ll find a way to party during spring break regardless. We don’t have any cases and my hospital is pretty tough on prevention, but post spring break I’m expecting a surge in cases. They were partying in Port Aransas this past week as well. We’re business as usual here, no panic, but prepping our cancer center ICU just in case it spreads post spring break
Lua where you at? Docs I know at UCLA and Kaiser in LA are already feeling overwhelmed.
Same at Cedars Sinai in LA and City of Hope in Duarte (an hr away). They’re cancelling ALL non-essential visitings, setting up telemedicine and video visits; they’ve sent out emails saying unless you’re urgently ill, please stay the hell away!
Same up here in the Bay Area. Running out of supplies, esp masks/gowns/gloves.
Here in Tampa we are most certainly not business as usual, the ER my daughter AND SIL work at was already overwhelmed with flu cases BEFORE this hit and are being absolutely overrun with folks wanting/needing tests they don’t yet have while they are rationing masks & gowns. They have been warned that the staff will be going on lockdown soon so they need to have 24 hr childcare plans in place by early next week.
As for my son and DIL, my DIL is home sick because a guy in the cubicle next to hers came to work while waiting for test results. Now that they are in & positive…well they just closed their entire building that houses 4000 employees and sending them to work from home for the time being. Ironically, they cancelled a 2 week vacation to Japan earlier this month only for DIL to get sick from a guy she works with every day who felt he needed to show up for work even though he wasn’t feeling well.
The Spring Breakers need to be sent home and urged to self quarantine when they get there. They should have be warned not to travel here in the first place. Our beaches need to be closed as well as our bars and nightclubs. They are going to go home and spread this virus far and wide. Haggling over generational titles doesn’t matter. What does matter is stopping the spread of disease and limiting the loss of life and suffering.
This is what happens when there is not a coordinated and cohesive federal plan. DeSantis’ inaction is criminal.
Exactly! We need the federal gov to step in and issue rules for all states to follow otherwise the ones doing jacks*** are going to keep this spreading around the country.
Remember in November.
This story, and that clip of that young idiot, JUST came on The Today Show. WHERE ARE THEIR PARENTS??? You know….the ones PAYING for it? HOW did they not demand their kids come home instead of going to party?? JFC do these kids not have families?? Almost all schools/college campuses are shut/will be shuttered after Spring Break (for the rest of the academic year, ie: May/June). These selfish, self-centered little piggies will most like be carriers, bringing/shedding the virus alllllll the way home!
At one of my kids’ universities, the weekend after they got the notice that classes were moving online, some moms on that university parent FB page posted photos of themselves partying in large groups with their sorority and fraternity kids, who didn’t cancel planned events. i just realized that was only a week ago, although it already feels like months ago.
So the likely answer is the parents are just as bad.
Exactly! Study abroad trips and spring break one year with friends i paid for myself but even then i would’ve been shamed by my parents let alone not enabled to go- not driven to the airport etc-no ‘did you have fun?’ Questions’ Etc.
These kids are enabled to be this selfish and reckless by parents with the same qualities
Meg, Esmom, you’re right. The parents are most likely the same way. I am not feeling very good about a “good” outcome with this. I hope I’m here, in the fall, to eat these words 😓
Ohhh Bradley,
I hope one day your prospective employers will see this video.
I work for a hospital in North Florida and we are (so far) the only major hospital in this city to not have a single patient with the virsus…yet. But we are ready and waiting.
These college kids are all idiots.
I wish it were just college kids. My brother (late 30s) was in Florida this last weekend with his partner and her mother and grandparents. They were very excited and proud to go to Disney World on the last few days it was open, and went to the beach several times. There was a kind of rebelliousness to it when I was like wtffffffff, very much like Evangeline Lilly, the government isn’t going to take away my freedom for the flu.
So many people are going to die over not taking this seriously until someone close to them dies.
They don’t even need to die, to be honest. Plenty will be taking it seriously after they see the bill for their hospital stay. Or graduate into a recession the way Millennials had to.
I’m in North Florida. Still restaurants open as of yesterday. Havent checked today, i’m at work. Restaurants Have to be at 50% or less capacity and tables have to be seated 6 feet apart. I’m so pissed! They’re gonna let people get sick and die because they are so worried about the economy. The virus deniers are still going out to eat etc. Spring breakers running to the beach. A few communities have closed down voluntarily, no one is making them. And too many business owners are choosing not to! I’m so pissed. These assholes are putting our lives in danger
So infuriating. My almost 99 year old grandma lives in Naples. She doesn’t go out and my two aunts live with her to help her but I’m so worried about all of them. She’s supposed to move back here to the Midwest into a nursing home over the summer but I’m not sure how that’s going to work now. I feel like states like FL and others who aren’t enforcing anything are going to be the ones that continue to spread this and re infect us all over and over again making this more drawn out and deadly then it already will be. Everyone shut down now!!!
Well there are a bunch of canadians in Florida.
Hopefully they leave before they get sick.
Those disgusting brats should be ashamed of themselves.
I’ve had an influx of Canadian tourists trying to change their tickets to get home ASAP. Though it’s all older adults and not spring breakers.
Oh yay many vectors flocking home who will probably care too much about their “freedom” to self isolate for 14 days. I agree with the poster above. I think this is going to get really ugly
Both sets of parents returned from Florida this past weekend after our pleas to do so. They are self-isolating and taking it very seriously, as are all of their friends. Let’s not assume the worst please.
Where I live, I have two close neighbours, one of whom has been in Mexico for 5 months and one who spent the last month in New York, plus two who have been in Thailand for the past 5 months. They’ve all arrived home this week. I’m not going outside my door for at least two weeks. I am also very suspicious of the two from Thailand. They are claiming to have completed quarantine already, but were in Bali on the 6th.
I have two very irritated step kids home from college with me because they weren’t allowed to go to South Beach with their friends for Spring Break. To a 19 year old apparently missing out on a week of binge drinking is the end of the world. It’s upsetting to me that more parents didn’t insist that their children not go. The majority of these kids out on South Beach are not paying for their own trips, Mom and Dad are fronting the bill, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to say no.
Some kids with schools closed now have no meals because school provided the inky meal they get, but these kids have parents sending then to spring break in florida despite a public health crisis
The disparity
Maybe I went to a poor college, but only 1 person we knew out of the massive numbers (college, after all, friends with everyone!) has her college tuition paid for by her parents, and the rest of us all relied on loan and working what we could. I just keep seeing that parents are paying, and I don’t think most are.
I cannot think of a worse thing for these young people to be doing.They are still finding more about this virus all the time,and some young people are getting more seriously sick than we had previously been led to believe.
Add to that that these kids are not all Florida natives,obviously,and will then go home to 49 other states,to parents,grandparents,and siblings who have quarantined,isolated,distanced,and if we are fortunate enough to see improvement,they can start a whole new surge in cases.
Young people will always do things to defy authority,but this is a whole new level,add to that some of these kids are not kids at all but young adults who will be entering the professional world soon,and this behavior isn’t even close to demonstrating the kind of responsibility a new hire should exemplify.
If one of those idiots in the video were my kid, when they get home they’d find the doors locked and barricaded and a tent, sleeping bag and some supplies waiting for them in the backyard. We and our teenager aren’t suffering through the stress of self quarantine and home schooling to welcome home infection from a self indulgent self absorbed brat. I showed my teenager this clip and she said none of them looked particularly bright or sober and she wonders if they cheated to get into their colleges.
To be fair to this generation, it is not the generation that’s at fault. At 53, I’m a bridge to older and younger generations and can state I saw plenty of self absorbed idiots in every generation.
I think I may be in love with you….that, or can I loan you 4 teenagers for a few weeks? I’m completely open to either option……
It would be one thing if they were only putting themselves at risk but they putting everyone at risk.
Selfish dumbasses.
These kids should be held criminally responsible for endangering the public.
f**kwits
While I agree wholeheartedly with you, don’t you think the govt. should be providing the examples by maybe ordering the closing bars and beaches? If they can’t access the area, or ‘party’ they will disperse.
The scary part is that after spring break those idiots will go home and bring it back into their community. The Darwin awards are going to busy this year.
Florida needs to grow a pair and shut it down. Take a lesson from Israel, who has closed its beaches, and closed means CLOSED. They are also tracking people who have tested positive to make sure they’re actually self-isolating. And there is a penalty for violations (monetary and possible eventual jail time.)
My Mom and stepdad live in Florida. My mom says she’s home and I hope she is telling me the truth. I live too far away to know for sure. My stepdad lives in a nursing home and they are on total lockdown in their rooms.
I’d like to see all these stupid moronic beach boys be on lockdown as well. 😡
DeSantis went to Yale for college and Harvard Law School. And yet he cynically spouts pro-Trump, anti-elitist red meat for the MAGAs. When his kids get old enough I have no doubt that they will attend those kinds of colleges and grad schools. Tom Cotton went to Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Josh Hawley went to Stanford and Yale Law School. You know they’re snickering about all the people they’re fooling behind their backs.
Totally not shocking considering how many trust fund babies pay their way into big Ivy Leagues and then on through graduation. There’s a reason they’ve become infamous for inflating grades considering the idiots they have to foster.
Trump apologist Louisiana Senator John N. Kennedy has a degree from Oxford. Yes, “the” Oxford (Magdalen College) in England. They all know that they’re tearing our republic apart.
Yep. The beaches are still open here, save for one. It’s really stupid. The bars are all closed and restaurants are doing take-out/delivery only. There’s absolutely no reason anyone should still be in the Keys on vacation. GO HOME, WE’RE CLOSED.
I live in downtown ft lauderdale and everything is pretty much closed, including the beaches. The spring breakers are starting to go home bc the party is pretty much over.
We keep asking where their parents are, but where do you think most of them got their idiotic behaviour from?
I have a cousin there now with her husband friends and her college aged daughter
Literally every other post on my Facebook feed was how people are dealing with self quarantine yet shes posting pictures at the beach, ignorant. I stared at the pics for some time thinking she may have added pics taken some time ago but no, she didnt. Just oblivious with her head in the sand
A former acquaintance of mine just left for Mexico with her family. After having a birthday party for a 4 year old the day before. She is so tone deaf right now posting pics all over FB and talking about how nobody there is worried. All I can think of is how she possibly just became a vector and could be introducing this to a whole new area of the world. All because they just HAD to go on vacation.
Part of me wants to say this is because there was initially such emphasis on “coronavirus doesn’t affect young people like it does old people” and “its just like a cold” – younger people feel like they are immune to the disease because of that so they are just going to do what they want.
BUT I also think that there has been a huge emphasis on “flattening the curve” and not spreading it to others who are at higher risk, etc. I mean I certainly got that message loud and clear weeks ago – that the danger isn’t me getting it, its me passing it to my 70 year old mother.
So all that to say – I don’t get these selfish idiots.
ETA and I realize that we don’t know the full extent of how younger people are affected and it may be worse than we thought for them.
From what I’ve been reading there’s a good chunk of people between 20 and 45 who are being hospitalized. I’m concerned.
I’ve seen a few younger people on my fb not taking it seriously, but they’re getting called out pretty quickly for the most part. In terms of people I know well – the older ones are a huge issue. Especially the people who are retired who are used to coming and going as they please -it’s just not seeming to click with them. They don’t understand why they have to stop doing the things they want to do after being given free reign.
I wonder if vaping will change the stats for the younger generation in North America. In Canada, young people have been admitted to hospitals with significant lung damage due to vaping.
Yeah, it’s definitely not just younger people. I’m working from home but went for groceries today. The weather here in Germany was lovely today and cafés were filled with older people (and teenagers, because schools are closed). I’m not loving my situation but I’ll gladly stay inside if it means people like my very ill father won’t get infected. But what are these seniors thinking? WTF? I’m doing my part, now you do yours.
My 21 yo niece is there. We are close, and she is usually at my home 3 days a week, after her college classes. obviously she’s banned now. It breaks my heart. She tells me, often, that I am like another mother, but I would not have raised a daughter like this. My brother and SIL are Maga, and they are so selfish. But stupid too since my SIL has bad asthma. I thought with all of the time I spent with her since she was a baby I might have had some influence on her, but the thruth is they are all products of their mothers and fathers. And my brother and his wife are stupid, selfish, and nasty. But I am so sad. I can’t even explain how sad I am. Nothing will ever be the same. And that’s if I live.
@Darla. So sorry to hear that. Fingers crossed they self isolate and don’t spread the virus.
BUT…BUT… the governor did tell us to stay 6 feet apart on the beaches so it’s all good. What a dick.
@ Tricia : Exactly. When I read that, I thought – is some sheriff out there with a measuring tape? So stupid.
This is why I am so mad at Trump leaving it up to the states to enforce social distancing. The entire country is going to suffer.
My entire family lives in FL including my 70 year old dad and 93 year old grandmother and I’m in tears daily thinking about them and how helpless I am to do anything to save them. She’s too old and frail to relocate out of there and my dad can’t leave because he takes care of her.
On the flip side, it’s probably for the better. They would have dithered even longer at the federal level because it meant taking responsibility for the outcome. This way, the states went ahead and acted. The rest that did not will have to face the consequences.
My spawn are spring breaking in the lower level of our house. I told them to turn the lights all the way up, put towels on the floor, and lay out there. They’re actually OK with it. They have friends who are staying with us because their families are quarantined or stuck in Italy and Spain. So we’re all basically hunkered down together.
My 17 year old was initially crushed that we had to socially distance. He had wanted to have a poker party with buddies when schools first closed here and he wasn’t allowed. You wanna see a horrified face? The face of a teen told to distance. XO He later apologized for being upset, he said he totally gets it now.
Tons of young people get it. These beach humans are just the fraction of the population that is always there, the dumb-dumbs.
@pineapple. I think the virus likes the dumb dumbs. To the virus it’s probably spring break, last call, and early bird special at an all you can eat buffet, all rolled into one.
My idiot sister wants to let my nephews (21 and 19) have friends over!! She says if she talks to the parents and they and their kids have quarantined for 2 wks…it should be fine! You know, ignoring the fact that some experts have said you could STILL, as a carrier, shed the virus for up to THIRTY TWO DAYS after exposure!! WITHOUT having ANY symptoms themselves!
I tried talking to her, pleading…nope…she “knows” it’ll be ok.
Sigh.. I am scared sh!tless about it.
Good for you Paranormal! Mine started complaining of being trapped yesterday. His base went on lockdown except for emergencies lol. He can’t see his gf for a while poor baby.
@ Mabs A’ Mabbin : I saw something on Facebook that said “Your grandparents went to war. You’re being asked to sit on a couch for two weeks. You.Can.Do.This”. Poor babies.
When I was a little girl in the ’60’s, my bedtime stories from my British parents were from World War II about London Blitz (a month of nightly bombings from the Germans), years of food rationing and sleeping in the bomb shelter my grandfather built in the backyard of their London home.
Quarantine and social distancing? Yeah, I can do that.
I hear you Sarah. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the great depression. And guess where she lived during those years? In the middle of the dust bowl. The Grapes of Wrath indeed. I can’t imagine it. No food. No water. No end in sight. Yeah, being a couch potato and playing games isn’t what I call ‘lockdown’ either.
They need to give shelter-in-place orders for these areas that are still overrun with idiotic people. Seriously.
Wow, what a bunch of selfish asshats – how is Florida allowing this? close the beaches, close the pubs, close the public spaces…It’s what we have done in Quebec (well minus the beaches lol).
Money. It’s all about money, plus our governor is an idiot despite his fancy education. I’ve called his office everyday this week asking him to shut the beaches down. Senator Rick Scott, our former governor, is tweeting to shut the beaches down. What more does DeSantis need? In two weeks, it’s going to be bad here. Bad. I’m thinking of leaving FL, going west to stay with family. I can’t trust my state government to protect me.
IMO everything needs to be shut down…. I still have to work every day. The courts are still open and I have a hearing tomorrow (lawyer). You can’t “quarantine” people and expect them to work in the same breath. From my understanding only Broward county courts are closed.
I read that for some stupid reason (can’t lose those spring break $), Florida decided to wait until Monday to close the beaches. And I assume that decision was only made under duress at the outcry about those spring break beach pictures showing up all over social media and the news.
Yep, they want those tourist dollars. Key West hasn’t really taken this seriously, aside from closing the bars and making restaurants go to 50% capacity or less, or doing takeout/delivery. I’m not sure if the 50% thing is still in effect but I know it was a couple of days ago. We can’t afford to eat out so I’m not really keeping up with that part of the plan.
@meghannotmarkle.
This is draconian…but maybe they should be group quarantined if anyone tests positive, kind of how the cruise ships were treated, instead of being allowed to fly home. Harsh, I know, but this could literally “go viral”
Florida doesn’t have personal income tax, that’s why. They rely on the massive amounts of sales revenue generated by tourism and the wealthy in the state. Interruption of tourist season is a major blow to them on several levels.
Great. Maybe they should check what happened in Ischgl, Austria. Only it was apres-skiing that was so important. Writing this from a city in lock-down…
I have family in Florida, and after speaking with the over the last week, the general vibe I get from them is that it’s not that serious. The pro-Trump *cringe* side are spouting early talking points about the flu killing more people, etc. I think Florida will be like Italy, unfortunately. Not too many cases now, but there will be many within the next week and the hospitals will be overrun. I’m worried for my 97 year old grandmother, my mother with heart issues and my 70+ year old dad.
Theses spring breakers are incredibly selfish and lack empathy. I get it, this sense of invincibility that this age group feels, but it also shows how poorly they were raised. And it also reflects how selfish their parent are, too. “Go be someone else’s problem for a week so I can have a break”.
I don’t know who is the bigger idiot – that kid or the governor. If anything the coronavirus is turning 2020 into a throw the bums out election.
One can only hope!
I live in a college town so my mayor implemented a 10 p.m. curfew that he is fully enforcing. He is also enforcing the no more than 10 people rule so that there is no daytime frat parties going on either. It’s like living in a ghost town just as it should be right now.
#CuomoforBidenCabinet
I live and work in Fort Myers Beach and they are starting to close down the beaches and the bars and the restaurants. I’m a server and it really sucks because I don’t want to be working right now. You would be amazed at just how many people from severely affected countries are here along with the spring breakers. It’s not just the spring breakers being stupid, believe me. The amount of times I’ve been touched, grabbed, or had someone get really close since guidelines have come out is SHOCKING. I am allowed to be as firm as I need to be. I realize I am a high risk person I’m not keen on giving someone illness so I’ve been self isolating when I’m not working.
BUT, in all fairness, it’s not nearly as busy as they make it look in videos. We are at a fraction of normal traffic this time of year. Many many people are staying away. It’s only the inconsiderate that are out and about.
@maureen. Hope you stay well. It’s good to hear it is a bit less busy than it looks, because it looks pretty bad.
This is so disgusting. I just can’t even put words to it. I hope all the elderly in Florida are staying home, and the state needs to do something immediately.
The beaches near me are still open (it’s kind of hard to physically close them) but they have closed any bay beaches that have a park or playground attached.
In and around Ft Lauderdale people were still partying in crowded bars for St Patrick’s Day… but don’t worry, they left at the 10pm curfew! (eyeroll)
DeSantis is dangerous because he’s smart. Thus far in his tenure he’s been fairly successful at using simple PR tactics about the environment and such to make people who don’t pay much attention (aka most of FL) think he’s doing a swell job. He’ll go on quoting low numbers (that mean nothing) until denial becomes untenable, and then he’ll transition a la Fox News to saying he was always taking this very seriously and FL residents should too. It will be too late, of course, and people will die, but these criminals just do not care.
To me, the most maddening part is that everyone is quoting numbers that literally don’t mean anything. The number of total cases in Florida (and the US as a whole) are FAKE because they’re literally not testing anybody. DeSantis recently “opened up” testing from only testing people who showed symptoms AND had come into contact with someone else who had previously tested positive (a methodology that guarantees your numbers are insanely smaller than actual reality) to only testing people who are showing symptoms and are high-risk age/other illnesses. Great. But we know that most people can be carriers and asymptomatic, so picking-and-choosing these testing parameters while letting everyone run rampant at the beach and bar and everywhere else is actual insanity.
It’s not just the spring breakers. Someone who decided to use their extra free time yesterday to go paragliding needed a full-on emergency rescue when he crashed into a tree. I just can’t. He lives in the one of the hardest hit areas and our first responders are overworked as it is, but here they are doing a full roll-out to save this idiot. The mayor of San Francisco said it perfectly – This is not a vacation!
I’d love it if Outside Online covered this… perhaps from a tip…
You can’t expect decent conversation and interviews from students on spring break! Florida’s beaches should’ve already been shut down. This is on open venues during college break. I’d blame the stupid students, but…they’re stupid. And drunk. This is their time off from the drudgeries of school, and it’s been planned! Anything that’s been planned and anticipated for months is immune from all viruses. Dontchaknow.
Various beachtown mayors and communities are starting to close the beaches since trump lite won’t do it. Florida, you almost make Alabama look good.
Florida being a mess as usual.
Why anyone is shocked that 21 year olds make terrible, dangerous decisions is beyond me. They should have shut everything down by now.
My kid did not go, and her friends from college cancelled their trip. She came home from college and is quarantining per our family doctor’s orders from us for 14 days. We are generally locked down. We go out for groceries, and rhat’s it. Please stay safe and well, all.
Desantis should be removed from office for doing this. He has basically ginned up a vat of gasoline and lit it with dynamite if that bat of gas was Covid 19. His state is slammed full of old people that he is supposed to protect! No excuse. How could anyone be so reckless. Speaking of which I want to violate my social distancing and punch that drunk guy in the face. I am not being my best self with this desire I know.
Im going to look into that book
Darwinism in all it’s glory.
This behavior is a total disgrace. But Florida is not the worst state. I’m from New England and moved down here to raise my family and we love it. It’s just this behavior and the lack of regulation that makes the rest of us look bad. In Tampa, everything is pretty much locked down.
I’m a Floridian at st Augustine beach where most are empty. Keep in many spring breakers are visitors, not native Floridians 🙂
OMG, people need to realize how serious this is. The US is huge, getting rid of the virus will be next to impossible for you if strict measures aren’t taken ASAP.
Look at Italy, the country has been on total lock down for several weeks and still the other day they had 475 deaths!
In France we can only go out for doctor appointments, groceries or work (those who are still able, like medical staff, retail, transport). And if you don’t have a written permit, you’re fined.
Most of us are home on unemployment benefits or sick leave (a special kind, created for the parents who have to stay home with out of school kids). And then there are those who are actually sick – about 11k in France. We have medical insurance, but we’re afraid that the economy will collapse and it will be worse than in 2008.
But, Spring Break is a must, right???
Pinellas County beaches are closing at midnight tonight. That includes St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, Indian Rocks, Madeira, Pass-A-Grille and a few others. The selfish, gleefully ignorant spring breakers have no ability to think about the future and how their decisions will impact others. But, that pretty much sums up MAGAts in general.