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Escambia County Votes To Reopen Beaches Beginning Friday
April 28, 2020
The Escambia County Commission voted Tuesday to reopen the public beaches in the county.
Beginning Friday, beaches will be open from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset each day. The area around the pier is closed and pavilions will remain closed. Social distancing rules — currently no more than 10 people in a group at least six feet apart — will apply to those outside a person’s immediate household. There are no restrictions on the activities that are allowed.
Escambia County will also ask the federal government to reopen the Gulf Island National Seashore, which for now, remains closed.
The commission closed the public beaches and Santa Rosa Island and Perdido Key back on March 21 in a effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Nearly 750 submitted public comment prior to the meeting. There were 508 comments supporting the beach opening, with 228 of those in favor of some restrictions. There were 235 comments against a beach opening. The CEOs of the large hospitals in Pensacola supported the beach reopening in a letter to commissioners.
The restrictions will be enforced by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, plus the county’s lifeguards, code enforcement, animal control, parks and public works departments.
Comments
36 Responses to “Escambia County Votes To Reopen Beaches Beginning Friday”
fotyoe. Get off your high horse and read what I said. I didn’t say sun and salt air CURE someone with the virus. I said it make the TRANSMISSION of it between persons next to impossible because SCIENTIFIC STUDIES have shown that UV radiation kills the virus in a minute or so and contact with salt breaks the bond that protects the virus destroying it. Yes SCIENCE. READ and RESEARCH instead of being a chicken little. The sky is falling!!….the sky falling!!
Lets see who is right, me or you. Come back in two weeks and tell me if the hospitals are overrun with new cases caused by beachgoers. Ain’t gonna happen. Wanna bet?
If you think the beaches are completely closed now, as Gomer Pyle would say Surprise! Suprise! Surprise! If you own a boat you have access to beaches, if you own a condo with beach access, you have access. The only people who are not allowed are the common non boat owner residents. Yes I have a boat and have been to the beach so I know from experience. This lock down has not slowed the jet skies either. Yep like annoying little flies they go zipping around disturbing a normally quiet and peaceful moment on the water.
For those who chose not to go please stay home, no one will think ill of you for your choices.For those who chose to go please, follow the guide lines as silly and ensane as they might seem, and just have a good time and enjoy!
Wow, I hope some of you don’t have grandparents with your attitude towards the elderly. That cold, selfish attitude stings. As one of those senior citizens, according to many of the “yesses” on here, I should lock myself in my house for the next year and forget about seeing my family or going out for some fun. Hopefully, beachgoers will follow the rules and out of towners will be healthy. I’ll wait to take my turn on the beach until the second wave moves through.
None. None of the the sky is falling, hospitals will be overrun, bodies will be piling up predictions have come true, except for possibly New York.
Actual deaths are 50 to 75% less than we were told was going to occur.
If you want to stay home, stay home. Everyone else can go about their business.
Let me just say this……. Coming from someone that works at one of our local hospitals. You probably don’t know this but the majority of the people working at the hospitals here in Pensacola have had their hours cut by 50% and that is including the Nurses!! The hospitals are not over run by sick people. There are not Coronavirus patients filling up the hospitals. The number of positives are a cumulative number from over the past 6 weeks and is not a current number of people that are sick. Most of those numbers are now negatives. We have to open back up and get back to work. It is time to put Faith first and not fear and move forward!
Beaches are the least likely places to spread the virus, the stores WalMarts etc are. And a message for those of you who oppose to open the beaches, just stay home!
Sounds like FOTYFOE (below) has zero degrees (HS included) and doesn’t know how to crack a book like DEE has. There are published studies that Dee is referencing. I suggest you stay at home, gain another 30 lbs and keep watching the View.
Sure people will likely keep their distance from one another on the beach. But, the 6ft rule should have been more like 12ft to better insure people will be at least 6ft apart.
That aside, what concerns me most of the beaches opening, is the increase of out of the area visitors in our stores and facilities near the beach. Already, here in Gulf Breeze proper, to many of the shoppers in the Walmart and Publix are inconsiderately not wearing masks as it is. I fear opening up without mandatory masks inside stores and public buildings, combined with an increase of out of area visitors, is going to increase infections and prolong this mess we are in.
One comment above said that “those that need to, can take precautions”. The fact is, high risk people are in danger by others not wearing masks.
ABSOLUTELY everyone has a right to their opion, so here’s mine.. if you feel uncomfortable with the opening of the beach and you feel people should stay home , WELL stay home ! Nobody’s telling you to go to the beach or anywhere else…. QUARANTINE yourself!! All about choices !!! Make yours!!
I am glad the pandemic is finally over., that was tough times.
Everyone saying that the virus dies within 30 seconds of direct sunlight if that’s the case why does the state of Fl have no recovered cases? We all know that Miami is a whole heck of a lot hotter then here but the numbers still rise. We all also know that the people in charge of reopening the beaches won’t be caught dead out there but its ok lets reopen. Patience is a virtue. But they just think abbout the dollar instead of the people that provide it
good choice, the world is over populated and now I know there is no hope for the local government to get it right, so now I know I can stop trying
Sounds like DEE (below) is a medical expert with medical degrees and years of experience
Amen to opening beaches. First county to do it right by not giving specific times which would cause crowding. Well done. Thank you
The BCC seems to be more interested in the yay or nay of it rather than credibility of input from opinions given. I think we should listen to medical professionals and science cause it’s a horrible death folks. It more than a sunburn–its a lung burn. We have worked so hard to try and put a lid on this virus and now decisions like this are going to jeapordize all the prior effort. This decision came as no surprise considering the makeup of those ruling on this. If it backfires then the BCC needs to own it for a change. Actions have consequences and this decision is putting public safety at risk.
“It blows my mind that people can be so incredibly selfish as to want the beaches open for their leisure rather than remain closed”
It blows my mind how selfish people are that they expect the entire world to stop in it’s tracks indefinitely until they “feel safe” about coming out from under the bed.
All these people wanting everything to stay closed seriously must not have left the house in the past month bc the stores are overrun with ppl and numbers aren’t exploding. Thinking that opening the beaches is gonna make the numbers skyrocket is ridiculous. Studies have shown that CV “dies” within 30 seconds of being in direct sunlight and it hates heat and humidity. The beaches may be the safest place to be!
There were comments in the leading up to the vote from medical professionals…Dr. John comes to mind–his points were coming from a doctor’s perspective and pretty hard to dispute. Unless you simply were not listening. Seems as the Board of County commissioners is just tallying up yes or no votes and forgetting about credibility of the input received–More Like who makes the most noise. Why listen to someone who may be more knowledgeable and have more credibility on the issue??It all boils down to the almighty dollar–If the rules aren’t followed then what? Then the BCC need to be accountable for their decisions. If you people want to go to the beach and choose not to follow guidelines then please cover your faces with proper masks when back among the general public. As for the rest of you that keep spewing how this is just a big hoax you aren’t going to have the same opinion if you happen to get it. I don’t wish this horrible terror from China on anyone cause it’s a horrible death. I hope everyone can keep with social distancing at the beaches but it going to be different households meeting up intermingling and dragging this back into the general population. I guess time will answer our questions and we’ll see if the beaches are under control. In summation I feel the BCC made a poor decision and need to answer for it if backfires. Good luck all and hopefully everyone stays safe and healthy.
Great news. Be smart, practice social distancing and have fun. If you are not sure of being safe then stay home.
So James Jr, anybody currently sick with this just needs a little salt & sunshine and they all cured and good to go right?
Yes….Money…..I hope and pray I can get my much needed Surgery.before these people crowd the Hospitals……….wrong move………..wrong move………….
are the hotels going to be open so people can stay the night
I don’t know what the huge deal is. I’ve been to the beach hundreds of times, and very rarely come anywhere close to people as I do when I have to go to Walmart or the grocery store. At the beach I won’t have to touch freezer handles, packs of food, credit card machines, etc. that have been touched by a hundred grubby hands.
Open air and hot, the beach is probably one of the safest places you could be. The fake-news years-old pictures of packed beaches that are circulating on social media are not how it is at the beach… explosion of the virus because the beach is open? Give me a break….. smh.
Glad to hear this!!
If your predictions are true within 2 weeks of the beaches reopening we will see local hospitals over run with Covid-19 patients. How about coming back here in two weeks and let’s see if your gloom and doom prediction comes true.
Sunshine (UV radiation) kills the virus. Salt is the world’s oldest disinfectant. The models predicting over 2,000,000 deaths in the U.S. that caused this panic are outlandishly wrong. Do a little research and you will find that as the true numbers come in and are evaluated we find that the death rate is actually around one or two one hundreth of one percent because testing is finding huge numbers who have had the virus and never got sick.
If you have a compromised immune system or are elderly, stay home. Let everyone else go about their lives.
attraction nuisance
You need to look it up for the Lawsuits that will come out of this. You might as well open the beaches to the tourists……….here they come
I am glad to see this. There are some restrictions. We need to be considerate of others and use common sense. For those who are not comfortable going to the beach yet don’t go.
Don’t go people if you don’t feel safe. Stop complaining!
The guy I saw picking his nose while driving yesterday is more responsible for spreading coronavirus than the people minding their own business at the beach.. Stop watching so much CNN or you’ll need a psychiatrist more than a covid19 vaccine.
Laws and rules are made by those who benifit from them. It’’s all about the buck. Out of sight…out of mind.
Thank You Escambia County Commissioners for opening the beaches.
Glad to hear this! Definitely a step in the right direction.
Groups of 10 or less and social distancing on the beach? Yeah right give me a break. Wait till the beers kick in. Wave number 2 getting ready to start
This is a mistake and will likely result in an increase in cases of COVID19, just as it has in other locations that have pulled back on restrictions. It blows my mind that people can be so incredibly selfish as to want the beaches open for their leisure rather than remain closed to better ensure the safety of the Pensacola community while this virus continues to run rampant.
Good job, county commissioners. Opening the beach is a good thing. Those of us that need to can take precsu