Florida is, as has become tradition, a focal point of Republican misinformation and bad policy. Over the past week, the Sunshine state saw a surge in new confirmed cases of COVID-19. These numbers, based on the recent history of the DeSantis-led government, are likely grossly low. This comes about one week after all Florida counties began a transition into phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan. Now, news outlets are reporting that newly reopened bars are having to newly re-close, as new cases of either patrons or staff testing positive for the virus have come to light.
Kiwi's Pub & Grill in Florida's Altamonte Springs posted on their Facebook page that the bar had temporarily closed again because “We have been informed by 6 different people today that they have been infected with the Coronavirus and they have been inside Kiwi’s within the last week.” The owner of Kiwi’s posted the following day that he had spoken to someone at the Seminole County health department who said they did not believe the bar had “been tagged by any infected people,” but that they were “getting hammered with new infections all around Altamonte Springs.”
This weekend, Florida saw new cases top 2,000 two days in a row which has prompted more closures. NBC Miami reports that most of the bars promised to be reopened after a cleaning and staff had been tested and cleared of having the virus. According to News 4 Jacksonville, 15 patrons of the newly reopened Lynch’s Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach tested positive after a post-quarantine celebration. Erika Crisp, a 40-year-old healthcare worker who tested positive after visiting Lynch said that her experience makes it clear that DeSantis and company are not being prudent when it comes to reopening the state. “We should be wearing masks. We should be social distancing. It was too soon to open everything back up.”
There are, of course, major issues with dining out and drinking at bars during a pandemic. Being able to effectively social distance from other patrons is one issue. The fact that wearing a mask and eating or drinking is impossible without removing said mask, is also an issue. There is also the very real social experience of being at a bar, potentially being slightly inebriated, making bad or looser choices about the way you are composing yourself, in tandem with the reality that people talk louder and at one another when in a pub.
Gov. Ron DeSantis made a big to-do about welcoming the Republican National Convention to Jacksonville this past week. DeSantis didn’t speak to the new rise in coronavirus cases, instead he focused on how a convention would help boost the economy, “You're talking about a massive economic impact. I think you're gonna have folks that are going to be able to spend a lot of money.”
The number of cases being reported by Florida’s government is already suspect. Recently fired data scientist Dr. Rebekah Jones has started a new website called FloridaCovidAction.com. It is here that she continues with her analysis of cases in the Sunshine state, and her numbers are considerably less rosy than the already bad numbers being put out there by the Florida health department.