The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Lightfoot, stay out of Florida’s coronavirus business

And here I thought that moving to Florida would distance me from the usual Chicago and Illinois nuttiness.

Instead, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot reached across the 863 miles that separates us to inform me that damnation awaits those of us in Jacksonville for walking on a beach.

So damning was her denunciation that she even invoked the Diety.

I watched the governor of Florida, I think, fumble once again. His leadership has been wholly lacking in this pandemic and then he reopened the beaches. God help us all.

She ought instead to be asking God to help her keep Chicago and Illinois from fatally sinking into the dismal swamp of incompetence and corruption has infected the city and state for decades.

She’s not alone. A twitter hashtag, #floridamorons, is having a field day, stereotyping an entire state and its elected officials, in a stunning exercise of arrogance.

Let’s look at this from the perspective that fighting the coronavirus pandemic is one hell of a struggle as every public official tries to blindly search for the best weapons to fight off this unprecedented monster. Every mayor, governor and, yes, president is trying their best to protect their own people.

And so, despite the criticism and the ridicule, opening the beaches here in Duval country wasn’t as dangerous as depicted and, in fact, was advantageous.

First let’s start off with the picture that purportedly shows Jax beaches crowded together. It appears that the picture was taken with a telephoto lens, thereby compressing the scene and making everyone look like they are closer together than actually.

Let’s start with an unbiased look look at the beach:

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At 7 p.m.

Thank you Jacksonville. I appreciate your social distancing and responsible behavior as we opened our beaches for walking, swimming, running etc. No groups congregating. 5 pm to 8pm opening tonight. This is the 7pm shot from Councilman Diamond from the beach. Well done Jax https://twitter.com/rorydiamond/status/1251286983919493120 …

Perhaps Lightfoot and other critics have in mind the partying on south Florida beaches earlier in the pandemic by vacationing (most from northern climes like Chicago) youngsters. Nothing like that is occurring here.

The beaches are open from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. each morning and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. each evening; they’re closed all other times. Only walking, hiking, fishing, running, swimming, walking pets and surfing are permitted. Chairs, picnics, large gatherings are banned, and social distancing required.

Curry defined essential activities the same way DeSantis defined them in a previous executive order: walking, hiking, fishing, running, swimming, taking care of pets and surfing. Gatherings of 50 or more people are prohibited and people must still practice social distancing.

Besides, being outdoors, taking a break from enforced isolation is beneficial. Any virus in the air is more quickly dispersed than in, say, grocery stores that are open. What science there is comparing the risks of being indoor to outdoor risks come down on the side of outside.

Reports Wired:

But so far there are no published studies of the spread of the novel coronavirus from one person to another in outdoor settings. One recent study of 318 outbreaks of three or more Covid-19 patients found all but one transmission occurred indoors—but as with many studies being conducted right now, that report was published as a pre-print in MedRxiv by a team of researchers at Hong Kong University and Southeast University in Nanjing, China, which means it has not yet been peer-reviewed.

That China study reported:

We identified only a single outbreak in an outdoor environment, which involved two cases. Conclusions: All identified outbreaks of three or more cases occurred in an indoor environment, which confirms that sharing indoor space is a major SARS-CoV-2 infection risk.

I wish Lightfoot well in whatever steps she believes are the best way to protect her city. If she decides to forbid anyone to use every park, bike path and beach in her city, that’s her business. Just leave the rest of us alone.

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www.dennisbyrne.net

My historical novel: Madness: The War of 1812

Filed under:
Health

Tags:
#floridamorons, Coronavirus, COVID-19