Florida police have released footage of a large street party that took place earlier this month, where attendees scoffed at the social distancing orientation as coronavirus cases skyrocketed across the state.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said it had broken several parties in vacation rental homes in the past few days, despite public health guidance in the state that advises people to avoid large gatherings.
In video footage taken from a police helicopter, partygoers were filmed dancing on the street at an event in Kissimmee, near Orlando, that occurred until the early hours of the morning of July 12.
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Large vacation home gatherings have been banned due to the risk of spreading Covid-19 during the pandemic.
Florida has recorded nearly 338,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 5,002 deaths, as of Saturday night.
“People who attend these parties don’t take into account what the virus is, they try to stop the virus from spreading,” said Maj. Jacob Ruiz, a police spokesman.
“These parties seem to be happening more frequently even now, as the state has reopened and things are trying to get back to normal, they even care less.”
Russ Gibson, the Osceola County Sheriff, said earlier this week that more than 600 noise complaints had been filed in the area since March due to the big parties.
Gibson added that attendees seemed to gather at the events with the intention of spreading the virus among themselves, suggesting that the youth did not believe they could be at risk.
“‘From what I have been told, they are known as Covid-19 parties where they are really getting together and trying to mix together to potentially spread the virus to each other if they are asymptomatic or whatever the case may be,” Gibson told the site. Click Orlando local news website.
It occurred when Florida reported another 10,000 confirmed cases Saturday, with an additional 90 deaths and more than 9,000 patients in the hospital with Covid-19.
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