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When I got off at Palm Beach International Airport, I was ready to see what the other half was like. The sane half of COVID, that is.
Our family had not left New York since March. We had read how Florida was able to maintain a case rate similar to or lower than New York’s while avoiding our crippling lockdowns. Still, we were worried. “Be careful out there, no one wears a mask,” was typical of the advice given to me by well-meaning friends.
And indeed, Florida has a reputation for being one of the looser states. In mid-April, after a short lockdown, Governor Ron DeSantis gave the green light for the beaches to open. “Wait two weeks!” opponents urged at the time. But two weeks went by, and Florida’s numbers remained relatively stable after peaking in mid-July.
As we got off the plane, we noticed something strange: everyone was, in fact, masked. And keep their distance. There was hand sanitizer everywhere. The COVID world “Mad Max” was nowhere to be found. Yes, everything was open, but from a precautions standpoint, South Florida looked a lot like New York City.
The main difference: masks are not worn in safe situations. In Gotham, it is very common to see people in masks even when they are alone on empty streets. Small children wear masks outdoors. In Florida, we saw maskless children playing outside together. It sounded like the Before Times.
Which is a good thing: we act like it’s okay to wear masks even where there is no risk. But, of course, it matters. In Florida, we saw the smiling faces of strangers for the first time in nine months. It’s hard to overestimate how much this mattered to our well-being and our sense of normalcy. There’s also the element of pandemic fatigue: Wearing a mask all the time, while not necessary, will at some point discourage its use when it really matters.
It is a lie, however, that Floridians do not take the novel coronavirus seriously. What they have done is reject the policies that don’t work, while keeping the ones that work.
Governor Cuomo, on the day he closed indoor restaurants in New York City, noted that the spread of COVID in restaurants accounted for 1.4% of cases. In Florida, they decided that numbers like that meant meals inside were staying open. In New York, we stupidly didn’t.
In Florida, DeSantis has prioritized school openings. In New York City, Cuomo swelled his chest and said he was in charge of schools, but then washed his hands of them when it was time to do the hard work of opening them.
And Florida’s policy has paid off. On January 9, New York City reported 17,839 new cases. Florida, with about 2 million more people than New York, had 15,445. An open state like Florida with fewer cases of COVID than a predominantly closed state like New York proves that extended lockdowns have failed .
And that disparity has led people like Rich Azzopardi, a senior Cuomo adviser, to throw bizarro conspiracy theories on Twitter that Florida has “prepared the book on case numbers.” It’s much harder to admit that your boss has destroyed restaurants and other businesses for no reason.
While Florida somehow hides numbers, the bodies are harder to hide. Florida has had 22,000 deaths from COVID-19 compared to 38,000 in New York. The virus hit both states at the same time.
The weather cannot explain the difference either. Yes, Floridians are often outdoors thanks to the mild climates of the Sunshine State. But that doesn’t explain why the virus is raging out of control in tightly closed California.
Florida is therefore showing that moderation may be the key to the fight against COVID-19. A New Yorker from Florida constantly asks himself, “Why doesn’t my own state government trust me like the government here trusts its people?”
The authorities in New York have no confidence in our people to do what is right for themselves and their neighbors. Our lives are being held hostage to Cuomo’s whims. Floridians know what to expect, and it normalizes their lives to a large extent.
They are right. We do not.
Twitter: @Karol
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