METERIAMI – Seven young women stood on the pier at the Sea Isles Marina near downtown Miami around one o’clock on Sunday afternoon. One, who said her first name was Lola and declined to provide a last name, placed her hand over her eyes to block the scorching sun. Dressed in a black bikini with transparent black pants, Lola turned to one of her companions.
“We need to find pier number one,” he said. “That’s where the captain told me the boat is.”
Almost every Sunday since the pandemic closed Miami-Dade bars and nightclubs, Lola and her friends have chartered a small yacht for an afternoon getaway in Biscayne Bay to sympathize, have drinks, and dance from bow to stern, he told The Beast daily “It’s the only thing we can do,” Lola said. “The restaurants are not even having dinner. So why don’t you get on a boat?
Lola and her crew are among hundreds, if not thousands, of boat enthusiasts taking to the sea to escape the confines of life under COVID-19 at a global epicenter of deadly disease. Over the course of an hour, five groups, not massive, usually five to 10 people, descended on the Sea Isles Marina to board chartered boats sailing in local waters from Sunny Isles Beach in the extreme north of Miami-Dade to Key Biscayne in The southern tip.
According to local boating enthusiasts, charter brokers and marina operators, recreational boating is experiencing one of its busiest summer seasons in recent memory, coupled with a plethora of boat parties where it is nearly impossible take precautions such as wearing masks and social distancing.
As a result, rising water is contributing to the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in Miami-Dade, a high-pandemic area, health experts and front-line workers warned.
The number of COVID-19 patients admitted to local hospitals increased from 1,656 on July 7 to 2,278 on July 20, according to the most recent COVID-19 update from Miami-Dade. During the same two-week period, the number of patients in ICU beds increased from 343 to 513. As of Monday, local beds in ICU COVID-19 had a capacity of 130 percent. Meanwhile, Miami-Dade reported 2,797 new cases Monday, totaling 87,035. The Florida Department of Health reported 14,337 new positive cases statewide, the 13th consecutive day of more than 10,000 new cases.
“Our Florida Department of Health data and admission questions in our emergency rooms and hospitals strongly support that boat parties are contributing to the Miami-Dade outbreak of COVID-19,” said Aileen Marty, professor of infectious diseases. from Florida International University who has been advising the mayor of Carlos Giménez county.
As of Monday, the 14-day average for the Miami-Dade positivity rate was 28 percent, suggesting a very high burden on the Miami-Dade population, Marty explained. Therefore, even small groups in a boat represent a hazard. of spreading the new coronavirus. “It is very possible that one of those three or four people who get on the boat (assuming they live in different homes) is positive,” Marty said. “People from the same household can get on a boat, but they should not mix households in a small boat at this time.”
An emergency room nurse at a Miami-area hospital told The Daily Beast it was frustrating to discover that boat parties are full of energy as hospitals reach capacity with emergency rooms and intensive care units overflowing with patients. COVID-19 patients. “I think it is irresponsible and dangerous,” said the nurse, who requested anonymity because her employer does not allow interviews with the media. “Seeing people on Facebook and in the community partying with their friends on a boat is irritating. It’s a slap in the face for healthcare workers and science in general. ”
In Miami-Dade County, Giménez instituted new navigation regulations as part of the reopening in May. Those rules prohibit boat rafting – the practice of tying multiple small boats together to make it easier for people in separate boats to socialize. Each boat can only have a maximum of 10 people, including the captain. And everyone in the boat must wear face covers and practice social distancing rules.
However, the local yachting community has a rebellious streak, according to Mark Santiago, an avid local fisherman with a 20-foot boat. “Generally speaking, boaters are trying to escape all the restriction of inland areas,” he said. “We generally believe that we are not doing ourselves any harm. “There is no crown in the water” is a general statement that I hear a lot. And Miami Latinos generally break the rules. Tell us not to, we will. ”
Last weekend, while fishing for snappers along the mangroves near Black Point Marina in southwest Miami-Dade, Santiago said he counted more than six crowded boats, drinking and dancing as if, well, it wasn’t the summer of COVID-19. “The moment people leave the marinas and reach open waters, the masks are removed and they forget about social distancing,” said Santiago. “You see eight people in a 20-foot boat raising hell. Social distance is impossible. “
While Biscayne Bay and the surrounding waters are regularly patrolled by county police, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation law enforcement, and the US Coast Guard, there is not enough labor to crack down on every reckless boat party, Santiago added. “It is a whack-a-mole game,” he said. “There has been a concerted effort to tell people not to anchor and untie boats, but when the police leave, people come back and tie up again.”
Santiago said he has seen this scenario at various boat hangouts like Beer Can Island, Elliot Key and the Haulover sandbar. “Then you have the Trump boat rallies, where those people are camped out and shamelessly disregard the rules,” he said. “They don’t bother as much as the brothers in their speedboats that pump rave music.”
Although he insisted that he had insisted on fishing with his father, Santiago said that he does not believe that he himself would reject an invitation to a boat party. “I would probably join them if they asked me to,” he said. “And he probably wouldn’t wear a mask and act like nothing was happening.”
People in the local boating industry have repeatedly noted disregard for the COVID-19 regulations. Chuck Hansen, owner of Fast Response Towing, said he regularly sees recreational boaters go about their business as usual. “Everyone ignores it,” said Hansen. “You see chartered boats with people huddled together. People just don’t care. ”
Aabad Melwani, operator of the Rickenbacker Navy in Key Biscayne, said his pier has seen an increase in the number of boat launches in recent weeks, and that there was natural appeal during a pandemic. “There is no other leisure activity where you can be completely isolated with your family,” said Melwani. “If an area gets crowded, you can lift your anchor and move. Also, it’s good to be in the sun. “
Melwani added that it should not be difficult to enforce the COVID-19 regulations on water. “People are creatures of habit,” he said. “In Miami-Dade, there are few places in the water that people can congregate. As long as people are not an idiot and have raves in the boats, it is the safest activity. ”
However, for boat riders and party promoters like Ernesto White, the only way to earn money is to target locals like Lola and her friends and the few tourists who still have enough courage to vacation in Miami. White, the owner of an event company called AM to PM Miami, said he used to host large boat parties that drew up to 100 people at a time. Each person paid approximately $ 100 for an all-inclusive party. You can’t do that anymore, so now you’re booking charter parties for small parties of up to 10 people for four-hour excursions. Their packages start at around $ 1,200, which cover only the ship and the captain.
“The smallest boat is typically 36 feet,” said White. “Due to the price range, we generally have a maximum of 10 people. They all have friends who pool their money to rent the boat. ”
White said he will provide masks to his clients if they do not bring theirs and informs them of the restrictions to not tie up with other ships and anchor in the barrier islands. “The water patrols seek to arrest anyone who does not comply,” he said. “We cannot prevent our clients from not following the rules. We are not the crown police.
Marty, an infectious disease expert at FIU, said people who insist on partying in boats should at least stick to wearing masks. “There is no problem wearing a mask in a boat, the problem is wearing a mask in the water,” he said. “There is no excuse for not wearing a mask on the boat.”
Back at Sea Isles Marina, Lola insisted that she and her friends I take Take your COVID-19 precautions seriously, including wearing gloves and hand sanitizer for each person. He was wearing a mask, which he took off briefly to speak to The Daily Beast for a few minutes. When she and her friends boarded a small yacht called “Paid in Full”, Lola said they generally sailed for the Haulover sandbar. She said the ships anchored there are generally separate and other sailors do not attempt to interact with them.
“We are going to vibrate,” he said. “But it’s not like it used to be where everyone said, ‘Hey, we’re going to show up.’ Ships keep their distance.
But even with experts’ concerns that surfing with people you don’t live with increases the risk of contracting the coronavirus, Lola said she was not concerned about that.
“My friends are limited and we don’t date other people,” Lola said. “We are cautious. I have children, so I don’t want them to have it. There is no COVID around here.
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