Which coronavirus? Miami Beach Party Doesn’t Include Covid

Coronavirus? Which coronavirus? That’s what the thousands of tourists and local Miami Beach residents who love the beach seem to think, disco evenings and the atmosphere in the streets where many forget that the state of Florida registers his worst days since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

With or without covid-19, the usual wildlife of the popular Ocean Drive promenade wanders their half-naked bodies and usual self-confidence while the happy conversations that come from the crowded restaurant terraces, a great diversity of music and the smell of marijuana that there is no jugular to attenuate.

One of those contributing to this commotion is Brazilian Silvio Maraca’s group of friends, who have traveled to enjoy the good weather and partying in Miami Beach, without fear of catching or spreading.

In his case, he says in conversation with the EFE agency – without a mask, of course – it’s because the disease has passed and he tested negative before boarding the plane to Miami.

He explains that his mouth and nose are not covered because the police are only “threatening” to impose a fine, without going too far. And they only do that if you get really close to them. Therefore, it is as easy as not to approach the agents and to maintain a philosophy that many in Miami Beach seem to follow: “The fun of the moment is worth more” than the possible punishment.

Evening evenings

Tourists and locals shamelessly bragging about breaking the rules, and many upload samples to their social media of those moments of joy that health officials fear will later become the drama of themselves, a parent, or any stranger they meet while they are already , possibly, infected.

As seen by hip-hop singer Tyga, who threw a party at a Miami Beach nightclub on New Years Eve and then uploaded a video of the traditional countdown to 2021 on Instagram in a place full of people and where, without a doubt, they were not very strict when it came to maintaining the distance of two meters between the dozens of participants.

And Tyga is still partying and this Saturday he added another one to Story nightclub in Miami Beach, one of the main cities in Miami-Dade County, most affected by covid-19 in Florida, which this week broke its record for positive cases with 17,192 in a single day, well above the 15,300 recorded during the worst of the first wave last summer.

Without fear

But that little seems to scare walkers on Lincoln Road, Española Way and Ocean Drive, even now that the much more contagious British strain of Covid-19 has already been detected in Florida in a young man who had not traveled anywhere in the period. incubation.

And all this also despite the fact that a midnight to 6 a.m. curfew and you must wear a chin strap or similar in public places and maintain a social distance, otherwise you will be fined.

But Venezuelans living in Santiago de Chile Albert Chacón and Juan Manuel Torres, visiting Miami Beach, say they have seen few police officers in the streets where “half the people” walk without masks.

“If you compare it to the safety measures in Chile, Miami Beach is far behind,” says Chacón, while Torres believes that while the “fear” of being infected is still there, you have to “learn” to live with it. the virus, because Otherwise, being aware of enjoying the good times would mean “ceasing to live” in life.

And Miami-Beach is not an isolated case: it is a scenario that has been repeated in other tourist cities in Florida, whether coastal such as Fort Lauderdale or Tampa and Orlando, where this week several parks in theme had to close their doors a few minutes after opening because they had already reached the maximum audience allowed.

Nothing seems to scare those who bet on the good weather and the fun of Florida, without apparently giving too much importance to the fact that after California and Texas, Florida is the third most affected state in the United States, the country with the highest number of cases in the world.

By Álvaro Blanco, EFE agency

CB