Miami – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce this Wednesday the way forward for the “slow” economic opening of the state, which will reopen parks, marinas and golf courses for the amusement of Floridians in quarantine starting tomorrow.
DeSantis accompanied President Donald Trump on Tuesday at the White House press conference on the new coronavirus, in which both praised each other and the Floridian anticipated that he will report tomorrow on the economic reactivation of the state.
The governor and Trump, his political godfather, who have been criticized for their response to the pandemic, among others for the lack of evidence, defended their work in almost the same terms and criticized the press.
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“Everyone in the media was saying Florida would be like New York or Italy and that has not happened,” said DeSantis.
The governor, who decreed the closure of Florida for a month from April 1 under pressure from various sectors, reiterated in the Oval Office that the economic recovery will be methodical, slow and unhurried.
“I think we will be able to take a small step. We will approach it in a very measured, thoughtful and data-driven manner. That is what most people across the state are looking for,” said the Republican.
With 32,846 infections and 1,171 deaths across Florida, authorities in the southern Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties most affected are preparing to open parks, marinas and golf courses tomorrow.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez said Tuesday that these spaces will be open at 6 am, but with a “limited capacity” of people, who must comply with the 6-foot spacing (1.82 meters) and keep your mouth and nose covered.
Palm Beach, “The Golf Capital” and home to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club, a frequent visitor during the winter, will also open its clubs and courses to golfers after a 34-day break.
Among the restrictions of these fields, both public and private, are the payment of the right to play only through the Internet, the closure of spaces that are not strictly those of the game and limitations on passengers in the carts that transport the players.
The challenge of the beaches and buses
The governments of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, in which 19,582 cases, of which 676 have been fatal, have so far been confirmed with evidence, warned that beaches “are not” included within the parks.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber has anticipated that the beaches of that city will not open before June, due to the “nightmare” of enforcing social distancing.
Gelber has said she does not want to become a Jacksonville, alluding to the opening of these North Florida beaches on April 17, with the immediate arrival of a crowd of visitors.
On the other hand, the opening has the public transport operators of Miami-Dade, a county with about 2.7 million inhabitants, concerned, who have complained about the lack of provisions for protection elements and the failure to comply with the social distancing.
The workers’ union, which recently filed a lawsuit against the administration, created the challenge to get on these buses and trains and not die, on social networks, #RideNotDie, and even challenged the county’s own transportation director, Alice Bravo, to do it.
Deaths increase
As the opening plans advance, the deaths do not stop, with 83 more and 708 new infections in the last 24 hours, according to official data updated on Tuesday.
Hospitalizations rose to 5,222 and tests conducted statewide, on which the Florida Department of Health data is based, have reached 368,651, with an 8.9% percentage of positive results.
According to the Department of Health, to date 81,924 tests have been carried out in Miami-Dade, most of them in centers installed in different places to take samples of people without having to get out of their cars, which allows avoiding contact physical between them.
This Tuesday the first was enabled for people who do not have a vehicle, in the Holy Family Catholic Church, in the city of North Miami.
A hundred people who made an appointment today went to the church on foot with masks and fulfilling the social distancing to be tested for the new coronavirus.
These days, tests have started on people who tested positive and want to know if they have got rid of the virus and those who are asymptomatic, in this case using antibody tests.
