Florida is the state where your grandparents come to retire. Where "snowbirds" are known to occupy the roads seasonally but the "early-bird" specials continue to remain year-round. Where the senior citizens make up nearly one-fourth of the state's population of more than 20 million.
The demographic most vulnerable to becoming severely ill and dying from coronavirus (COVID-19) is senior citizens.
Not to mention if you have a preexisting condition like heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes you are at higher risk. For spring breakers and remaining tourists, to blatantly disregard the pandemic and continue on like nothing is happening risks further community spread and the risks it brings to local communities, especially senior communities, is irresponsible and enraging.
Every year, the state already has to deal with the nuisance of spring breakers leaving our beaches a disgusting mess and overcrowd the local traffic. It's just endangerment and stupidity at this point. To say that COVID-19 doesn't severely affect healthy, younger individuals, so it's somehow OK to continue on with your vacation plans is selfish and again, extremely irresponsible.
My hometown, Fort Lauderdale, attracts thousands of spring breakers each year, and for those of you who are are not familiar with Fort Lauderdale, it is a city full of senior citizens. Fort Lauderdale is also part of Broward County, the county with the most cases of COVID-19 as of March 17, 2020, with 55 cases. Miami-Dade County in second with 43 cases and Palm-Beach County in third with 13 cases, both neighboring counties that are about 30 minutes up to an hour away.
The virus may not affect you directly, but my life has not been the same for the past two weeks.
My parents are a lot older than my friends' parents and are considerably more vulnerable to COVID-19 than the average person. To make matters worse, my own father who has two preexisting conditions — diabetes and heart disease — is stuck at a medical facility out of fear of releasing him and contracting the virus with his immune system's current state. My mother and I can't even visit my father because they are worried we may increase his chances of contracting the virus. Can you even begin to understand what it feels like to not see your parents since Christmas and have to socially distance yourself out of fear you might accidentally give them a life-threatening disease?
Your precious spring break in my hometown means nothing to me compared to my parent's health and the wellbeing of my community.
Please, you need to take this seriously and go home.
One spring break social distancing and isolating yourself won't kill you, but it may kill someone else. Take it seriously for the sake of saving the lives of grandparents, parents, and immunocompromised loved one's life.
