Whether to open beaches and other outdoor spaces is a major consideration for governors and mayors this weekend as more of the country looks to emerge from pandemic lockdowns.
Beaches on the East Coast and along the Gulf coasts of Alabama and Florida have begun reopening, and people are expected to gather at beaches en masse this weekend.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has the state under a stay-at-home order but left the decision to close beaches up to county and local leaders. Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry decided that beaches in Duval County, for instance, could stay open as long as people followed social distancing guidelines.
St. Petersburg and other popular beaches in Pinellas County will open Monday with law enforcement officials present to ensure that people don’t gather together and individual groups stay at least 6 feet away from one another.
In addition to deputies stationed on the beaches and at every access point, officers will monitor crowds from a helicopter and patrol beaches on all-terrain vehicles, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Law enforcement is hoping to avoid a repeat of the viral incident in April when people packed Clearwater Beach, sparking national outrage. Still, the beach remained open.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, decided to issue a “hard close” of beaches in Orange County Thursday after about 80,000 beachgoers gathered at Newport Beach last weekend, according to CBS News. Other beaches in Southern California have remained closed since Newsom issued the statewide stay-at-home order. He said people probably came to Newport Beach from all over the state, not only from the county.
“My job as governor is to keep you safe,” Newsom said Thursday. “And when our health folks tell me they can’t promise that if we promote another weekend like what we had, then I have to make this adjustment. I hope it’s only a very short-term adjustment.”
Florida has confirmed over 33,600 coronavirus cases, while California has confirmed nearly 49,000. Cases throughout the United States have surpassed 1,091,000, and at least 64,200 people have died, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
President Trump acknowledged Friday that the death toll will be higher than he had once thought, saying he hoped there would be fewer than 100,000, according to Reuters. Trump has previously estimated that deaths will likely be kept to 70,000.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data Friday showing that over 4,913 workers in meat processing plants have tested positive for the coronavirus and 20 of them have died. Multiple plants have closed since the coronavirus pandemic began, and Trump issued an executive order under the Defense Production Act mandating that processing plants stay open to prevent a meat shortage.
The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to Gilead’s drug remdesivir, which researchers believe could treat COVID-19. Clinical trials have shown that patients treated with remdesivir recovered sooner than those taking a placebo. Gilead will allocate medication to the federal government, which will then distribute the medication to hospitals, according to the FDA’s order.
“We want to thank the collaborators that brought remdesivir to this point and many of our people that have been part of this, in fact, the caregivers,” Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day told reporters Friday.
The FDA has not yet approved any treatments for the coronavirus, but emergency use authorization means that doctors will be able to use the drug for patients in the hospital with COVID-19 without waiting for the drug to go through additional clinical trials.
Trump said Michigan protesters are “very good people” Friday morning after hundreds of people, many of them carrying guns, went to the capital Thursday in objection to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s two-week extension of the state’s stay-at-home order.
“They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal,” Trump said.
Whitmer also extended the state’s emergency declaration for 28 days by executive order, which will require restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and gyms to remain closed. Restaurants can still offer delivery services.
Michigan’s demonstration wasn’t the only one of its kind. Frustrated protesters from Pennsylvania to Washington have shown up at rallies in the past month to insist that their state leaders reopen their economies.
So far, 18 states have begun to reopen while seven states’ restrictions will lift in the next week, according to the New York Times. Michigan is still under lockdown.
