Thousands of U.S. college students are openly defying warnings from government officials at the highest levels by making the trip to Florida to celebrate spring break.
“If I get corona, I get corona,” spring breaker Brady Sluder told Reuters. “At the end of the day, I’m not going to let it stop me from partying.”
The beach in Clearwater Beach, Florida, a popular tourist and spring break attraction, was not closed as of Monday and was reportedly “packed” with people, according to WFLA 8 News.
Clearwater Beach, Florida is PACKED today despite “social distancing” recommendations. https://t.co/WzGydcP1Ja pic.twitter.com/vsRD4QLbhr
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) March 16, 2020
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the beaches will not close, but the state plans to enforce CDC guidelines recommending people stay in groups of no more than 10.
“We’ve seen some big crowds on the west coast of Florida, and I’ve had a chance to speak to mayors on both coast today,” DeSantis said. “If … they want to continue to [leave the beach open], we want them to have the freedom to do that, but we also want them to have the freedom to do more if they see fit.”
However, many bars, restaurants, and beaches in Florida have made the decision to close, which has frustrated many tourists and residents alike.
“What they’re doing is bad. We need a refund. This virus ain’t that serious. There’s more serious things out there like hunger and poverty — we need to address that,” 21-year-old Atlantis Walker of Indiana said.
Ninety-eight new cases of the coronavirus popped up overnight in the state of Florida alone, including a 6-year-old boy.
In a press conference Wednesday, President Trump urged young people who feel “invincible” to take the recommended precautions necessary to stop the spread of the virus and spoke specifically to potential beachgoers.
“I hope they just listen to what we’ve been saying over the last period of time. We don’t want them gathering, and I see that they do gather, including on beaches and including in restaurants, young people,” Trump said.
“They don’t realize that — they’re feeling invincible, I don’t know if you felt invincible when you were young, but they don’t realize that they could be carrying lots of bad things home to their grandmother and grandfather and even their parents,” he added. “So, we want them to heed the advice … and I do believe it’s getting through.”
