“DeSantis rolled out the red carpet for visitors, and he left us to deal with the aftermath,” said one local official.
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a warm welcome to millions of spring breakers descending on the state, touting earlier this month that “there are no lockdowns in Florida.” But the rule-averse Republican left local city leaders hamstrung in their efforts to control unruly crowds and the spread of the virus.
DeSantis early this month abolished fines on people and businesses for violating local pandemic orders, launching his latest push to convince pandemic-weary tourists that Florida is safe. The governor had already rolled back restrictions on bars and restaurants — even as new coronavirus variants were predicted to drive up the rate of new Covid infections through spring break.
The DeSantis ban on fines came to the forefront over the weekend in Miami Beach, where a surge of spring break visitors filled the island city well beyond its capacity. Officials in Miami Beach, which relies heavily on tourism dollars, were forced to impose an 8 p.m. curfew on the city’s entertainment district in the middle of its most lucrative season of the year after police clashed with party-goers.
“DeSantis rolled out the red carpet for visitors, and he left us to deal with the aftermath,” said Miami Beach City Commissioner David Richardson, a Democrat. “People call it spring break and I correct them — this is a high impact period.”
A thriving economy is a huge selling point for Republicans, and DeSantis is already using his pandemic track record to stage for a grueling reelection campaign next year and possibly a 2024 presidential run. DeSantis, a conservative darling and close ally of Donald Trump, earned praise from Republicans for resisting lockdowns and pressing to keep kids in school — but more than 32,000 Floridians have died from the pandemic and this week the state became the first in the country to have more than 1,000 cases of Covid variants.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a warm welcome to millions of spring breakers descending on the state. But the rule-averse Republican left local leaders hamstrung in their efforts to control unruly crowds and the spread of the virus. https://t.co/GN79Dg84Tj
— POLITICO Florida (@politicofl) March 24, 2021
And these kids are bringing COVID home with them, particularly the more contagious variants. The University of Pittsburgh just reported an uptick in COVID cases, mainly the UK variant. I guess Governor DeSantis wants to kill everyone in every other state, not just in Florida.
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