Miami Beach should have been more prepared for spring breakers

And prepared WAY ahead of time

James Willamor, Wikimedia Commons | Photo Courtesy
You would think a spring break hotspot would know that people would come, pandemic or not.

While watching the news and going on social media, I came across an article from The New York Times, called ‘Miami Beach, Overwhelmed by spring break, Extends Emergency Curfew’.

The article by Neil Vigor, Michael Majchrowicz and Azi Paybarah stated, “The city has been criticized for its enforcement of the curfew in South Beach over the weekend when the police used pepper balls to try to disperse the crowds.”

I find this statement to be absolutely crazy, shouldn’t the city of Miami have been prepared for many spring breakers?

Miami should have thought, “Hmmm… We will have lots of college kids in town for the months of March and April, why don’t we start this 8 pm curfew before they book their trips? That way there are less likely to be disputes and everyone will know what they signed up for by coming to Miami Beach. They will understand the curfew, social-distancing and mask mandate before they get here.”

The article goes on to discuss how officials put out a curfew from 8 pm to 6 am, four nights of the week unit on April 12th. Although hotel guests and local businesses are exempt from the closure, everyone else has to follow the curfew.

There were many people on spring break who were not following the social-distancing and mask guideline rules. Although Florida has been advertised to be very ‘open’ to the public, why couldn’t they be more prepared ahead of time?

I know many, many NDSU or Fargo-Moorhead college students who headed to Florida for spring break. Maybe they chose Florida because they knew Florida is one of the few pretty open states in the middle of a pandemic.

Obviously, spring break can get pretty wild, especially in Florida. But did they really have to go so far to put Miami on lockdown? I don’t think so. Miami Beach should have just mandated their mask and social-distancing rules during spring break or set their curfew ahead of time, and then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

I respect the people who followed the curfew and the police officers; however, I don’t think it was necessary to have the beach on lockdown. There are so many college kids who live for the nightlife on vacation. They shouldn’t have to be put in their hotel rooms or Airbnb by 8 pm.

Where are all of these spring breakers going to get food?

The college kids got to eat at night you know. College students are most likely to be out in the sun or having fun during the day while going out to eat at night. They may even eat after 8 pm… but now they can’t.

I hope Miami Beach realizes they should have made their curfew and rules ahead of time before college kids came for spring break.

Miami Beach, let people have their fun. It is their spring break. There is a point to try to keep everyone safe with masks and following the curfews, but don’t you think many of these college kids already had COVID?

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