Gus Carlson is a New York-based columnist for The Globe and Mail.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t shy about reminding people of his aggressive stance against COVID-19 mandates and using every opportunity to poke at his many detractors, especially political opponents and critics in the news media who have escaped from restriction-laden northern states for a few days of fun in the sun.
Mr. DeSantis was at it again recently, telling his latest success story in advance of what is expected to be a busy spring break season in the Sunshine State. A record number of domestic tourists visited Florida in 2021 – nearly 118 million. That tops prepandemic levels and is the highest single-year total in the state’s history.
The boom gathered steam in the fourth quarter, when about 29 million domestic tourists visited Florida, a 7-per-cent increase over the fourth quarter of 2019, before the pandemic hit.
It’s a statistic that will have many mandate-loving blue staters seeing red, a prospect not lost on Mr. DeSantis, an emerging leader in Republican politics who many are whispering should consider a presidential run in 2024.
“Who wants to travel some place when you want to get a hamburger you have to show your medical papers?” Mr. DeSantis said in announcing the breakthrough. “In Florida, we don’t have that. We are not doing passports. We are not doing mandates.”
Canadians planning getaways to Mr. DeSantis’s turf will quickly find out why it has been nicknamed the Free State of Florida, and why he has drawn heavy fire from officials in many other states – and the Biden administration – who have made mandates and other restrictions elements of daily life for some time.
Mr. DeSantis has been steadfast in refusing to impose mask and vaccine mandates and vowed to levy fines on organizations that apply such measures.
As a result, few people in Florida wear masks, though some businesses still ask employees to mask up. Rare is the request for proof of vaccination, boosting or testing. In most public places, physical distancing is a term as outdated as the horseless carriage, and as a result, widely ignored.
It is unclear whether Mr. DeSantis’s posture on mandates has been successful. As in many states, including those with mandates such as New York and California, Florida’s COVID-19 case totals and death tolls have swung wildly over the past year. Florida went from having one of the worst records in early 2021 to having the best in the country later in the year, a swing that confounded many and brought claims that some states were cooking the books.
Agree with Mr. DeSantis’s stance or not, the lure of the tropics during a cold and snowy winter in the northern U.S. and eastern Canada has made more people decide there is an acceptable level of risk in a trip south.
Florida airports are packed. The traffic congestion is choking even at major hubs such as Miami International and Orlando, as visitors pour in to spend time on the beach, on the golf course or at the Magic Kingdom.
Visitors deplaning often appear surprised. Masked up and ready to show proof of vaccination, they are greeted by friends and relatives unwrapped, unburdened and seemingly unconcerned.
On the famous Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale strip last week, where spring break has been a staple of the local economy for decades, thousands of maskless tourists took advantage of the high-20s C weather, sunny skies and warm ocean waters.
In Hollywood, a popular destination for Canadian snowbirds, the Beach Broadwalk was hopping with sun-seekers jogging, biking and walking, only some wearing face coverings.
At tony Palm Beach restaurants such as Café L’Europe, La Goulue and Le Bilboquet, unmasked diners sat shoulder-to-shoulder having cocktails and a local favorite, moules-frites, the well-heeled crowds spilling out onto tables set up on the sidewalks.
A few kilometres up the road, thousands of unmasked golf fans poured onto the PGA National course in Palm Beach Gardens for the Honda Classic tournament, the first event in the PGA Tour’s Florida swing. A year ago, just 10,000 spectators were allowed on the course each day. This year organizers expected a return to big prepandemic crowds, especially with eased restrictions and the weekend’s warm and sunny weather.
Even Walt Disney World is coming back – and loosening some restrictions, including making masks optional for vaccinated visitors. Estimates are that about 35,000 people are visiting the Orlando park every day now, down from 57,000 before the pandemic, but a welcome sign of life.
Mr. DeSantis’s Florida – and his stance on mandates – may not be for everyone. But there appears to be some truth to his claims that even his biggest critics, including Democratic governors, Congress members and media stars, have swallowed their words in their search for a place in the sun.
Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic New York Congresswoman who was seen partying at a Miami nightclub over the holidays while her state was locked down. Or scandal-shamed New York-based television host Chris Cuomo, one of Mr. DeSantis’s most vocal detractors, who has been seen around Palm Beach recently, enjoying the weather and the freedom.
As Mr. DeSantis said famously, if he had a dollar for every public official from a northern state who travelled to his state to escape the cold and lockdowns, he would be a rich man.
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