Some Florida state parks will reopen to visitors May 4.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, flanked by Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, traveled to Little Talbot Island State Park in northeast Duval County on May 1 to make the announcement.
DeSantis said 80 parks will resume operation to start a phased reopening. He said the Florida Department of Environmental protection is developing the parameters of the reopening and will release that information later.
While in Jacksonville, DeSantis called reopening the park system consistent with his phase one strategy to partially reopen Florida restaurants, retailers and the economy. That also begins May 4.
DeSantis said some parks in Southeast Florida will be among those reopening. The governor is including Southeast Florida parks despite Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties being left out of his phase one reopening because of higher rates of COVID-19 cases.
The governor supported Southeast Florida government leaders’ decision to reopen many marinas, local parks and golf courses this week.
DeSantis said his decision is based on COVID-19 data.
“I think the science backs it up, outdoor transmission is less likely than transmission in closed environments,” DeSantis said.
The governor referenced an ongoing federal study to defend his move to reopen parks that shows difficulty for the coronavirus to survive in high humidity, high temperature environments .
The governor quoted from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center study that found, in laboratory testing, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, dies more quickly with direct solar radiation.
Specifically, placed in simulated saliva on a stainless steel surface, the virus took 2 minutes at full solar intensity to reduce by half, according to a fact sheet summarizing the study on the DHS website.
Lab researchers also found the virus appears to die faster in higher temperatures.
The governor called it “a very thorough study,” although the fact sheet said, as of April 21, the results were preliminary. According to the document, the biodefense lab will continue laboratory research to refine and expand the response in the coming weeks.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t transmit it. Obviously, if you pack in 1,000 people and they’re right next to each other and they cough on each other, that’s going to be risky,” DeSantis said. “But when you’re talking about opening spaces with appropriate social distancing, that is a very low risk environment. It’s also a high reward for the people of Florida.”
Other factors
DeSantis and Curry have focused on the state’s hospital capacity and the percentage of cases returning positives as key indicators that areas of Florida were ready for a gradual reopening.
Both data points are used as benchmarks in the White House Coronavirus Task Force federal guidelines for reopening the economy.
As of May 1, Florida hospitals had 42% of beds available, DeSantis said. The governor added that in Miami-Dade County, the area of Florida hardest hit by COVID-19, hospital bed capacity is 40% available.
The governor also noted that in Duval County, less than 4% of COVID-19 test results are positive.
Duval County has recorded 1,012 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 20 deaths as of May 1, according to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine tracker.
The Florida Department of Health reports the state has reported a total 34,728 cases with 1,314 deaths as a result of COVID-19.
But according to some studies, Florida is not testing enough people to show the full rate of COVID-19 infection statewide.
A Harvard University study released April 15 shows that states and regions should be conducting 152 tests per 100,000 people to accurately track the rate of coronavirus infections, the New York Times reported April 17.
Duval County’s test sites had a capacity of 1,500 tests per day as of April 23. Testing sites at Henry L. Brown Kooker Park and at Walmart at 13490 Beach Blvd. have opened since.
DeSantis said antibody tests will be available at some Florida testing sites beginning May 1. It will test if someone previously carried the virus and had mild symptoms or been asymptomatic.
DeSantis said this will give a better indication of how widespread the virus is.
National Guard-supported testing sites, as of this weekend, will have generated 100,000 tests statewide, DeSantis said.
The politics of reopening Florida
DeSantis supported Curry’s decision to reopen Duval County beaches for recreational use April 17 and defended the mayor against national media criticism for the move.
“This is what they were focused on. Not dirty subway cars, not other things that have been major transmitters of the disease, but they were focused on this. … And people here were mocked,” DeSantis said.
Curry took to the podium on Little Talbot Island and praised DeSantis’s coronavirus response, linking Jacksonville’s COVID-19 testing ability and capacity to distribute personal protective equipment at the sites to state government assistance.
“We’re observing people in grocery stores for weeks because they have to get essentials and while that’s happening, you don’t have large outbreaks,” Curry said. “So with the data and basic logic, it made sense to open wide spaces, let people move and remind them to social distance.”
