Anna Maria Island beaches remain open and busy. COVID-19 closures remain a possibility

Public beaches on Anna Maria Island remained open and busy Wednesday despite tighter restrictions on beach crowds issued by the state to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Groups should number no more than 10 people, according to the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, and those groups should stay at least six feet apart from one another.

On Manatee Public Beach, visitors seemed to be taking the guidelines seriously.

Groups were small —mostly singles, couples and families— and beachgoers seemed more careful to set up chairs and beach towels farther away from one another.

Crowds trended towards older adults, while some families were out with children who have time off from school.

Are AMI beaches going to close?

Manatee County’s public beaches will stay open for now, according to Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth.

Titsworth and leaders of the other beach cities have been working with Manatee County officials to monitor the situation on the beaches, and they met on Wednesday to discuss the latest developments.

Closing the beaches was up for discussion, the mayor said, but it was instead decided to keep beaches open and increase safety measures.

Earlier in the day, Holmes Beach Chief of Police William L. Tokajer cruised the beach to monitor crowd sizes, information that was then relayed to the mayor and the county.

County officials on Wednesday sent a public alert reminding people to keep a safe distance from one another, Titsworth said. Local highway message boards will also be updated with safety advice.

The mayor said that weekday crowds have been manageable so far, but the weekend could be different.

Another deciding factor could be whether neighboring counties decide to close beaches.

“We don’t want people coming from other counties to ours,” Titsworth said.

Who decides when beaches close?

Gov. Ron DeSantis has left the decision about whether to totally close beaches up to local governments.

“Having talked to mayors, it’s certainly not uniform throughout the state that you’re seeing massive crowds at beaches,” DeSantis said on Monday. “Some of them are residents and families and small groups. If that is done properly spaced, we want them to have the freedom to do it. But also have the freedom to do more if they see fit.”

Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, which experience massive spring break crowds, were among the first cities to do so.

On Wednesday, cities in the Tampa Bay area started to take similar measures.

The city of Tampa announced the closure of all its beaches via an order from Mayor Jane Castor, and on Wednesday evening, the Clearwater City Council voted to close all public beaches on Clearwater Beach for two weeks starting at 6 a.m. on March 23, according to Spectrum Bay News 9.

Local beach visitors on COVID-19

“There’s been a big change in the last few days,” said seasonal resident Liz Pryor, who was having a picnic with her husband and two friends underneath the Australian pines at Manatee Public Beach. “I’ve seen people change from, ‘It’s a hoax’ to ‘This is real.’”

Liz and husband Glenn, who are in the age bracket more susceptible to the disease, said that they are taking many extra precautions.

“We’re keeping our social distance,” Glenn said. “We’re not eating at the restaurants.”

The group reflected on past events comparable to the coronavirus.

“We knew so little about polio as kids that it wasn’t that scary,” said Mary Pocious, a seasonal resident from Iowa. Though Pocious and the others did recall lining up to take oral polio vaccines delivered via sugar cubes as children.

On spring break from college in Tampa, Siy Hakim said that the fallout from the coronavirus had ruined plans to visit Walt Disney World and travel to North Carolina, so he and his girlfriend came to Coquina Beach instead.

Hakim said he is disappointed in the panic and bad behavior surrounding the virus.

“I’m honestly not worried so much about the virus as I am about people freaking out,” Hakim said. “Be kind to your neighbor. That’s how we win. You don’t win by getting all the supplies for yourself.”

Hakim also said that people should be practicing good hygiene all of the time, not just when there is a pandemic afoot.

“I have no idea why it’s become a prevalent thing to do only because of the virus,” Hakim said. “Don’t let this crisis go away and then stop being hygienic.”

“I was surprised that there were that many people here,” said Norris Scott, 76, who was sat with his wife on the edge of Coquina Beach away from other visitors.

Scott said he is concerned about the virus and not sure that safety measures taken so far are going to be effective.

“We’re staying away from people as much as possible. We brought our own food. We’ve changed our habits. We would have been eating out twice a day. I don’t interact with any younger people right now. It’s prudent to take precautions.”

Scott, who was a part-time wedding photographer for years, was finding distraction by taking some action shots of birds on the beach.

Scott said nothing in his memory is comparable to events surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.

“There’s a lot of criticism of the government for not doing things fast enough, but this is unprecedented,” Scott said. “Even in World War II, I’m not sure that it was this scale.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Anna Maria Island beaches remain open and busy. COVID-19 closures remain a possibility."