Has COVID-19 made it too unsafe to return to Florida in the fall? | Letter to the editor

With the ever-increasing number of COVID cases in Florida, many snowbirds are likely rethinking returning this winter. But it’s not just snowbirds. We call ourselves “summerbirds.” Florida is our home most of the year. But in the summer, we escape the heat and hurricanes for three months to go visit family in Maine. We managed to figure out how to get here safely in June by buying a travel trailer (our “COVID survival pod”) and now we wonder if we will be able to return.

As I watch the ever increasing numbers and realize that our home county of Manatee has more cases and more deaths than the entire state of Maine, I fear that it will be a long time before we feel safe to return. We are both in the vulnerable categories of age and underlying health conditions.

I know many will argue that Maine, being the whitest state in the nation, has fewer cases because there are fewer minorities. However, most of the deaths in both places are in the over 60 age group and Maine is the oldest state in the nation. So, it would stand to reason that it would have at least as many deaths.

What Maine does have is a governor who took the disease seriously from the start. It also has a population that listens to the mask mandates. Manatee County doesn’t even HAVE a mask mandate as far as I can tell. And while the governor of Maine has issued strategic mask mandates for high risk counties, Florida’s governor seems content to risk the lives of Floridians by not showing leadership.

I truly hope to return in the fall, but our health has to come first. I am sure we are not alone.

Jenni Casale

Palmetto

This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 10:30 AM.