Both Florida and Manatee County extended safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 the week of April 6.
The state ban on short-term rentals was continued to April 30.
And the county commissioner voted 5-2 April 10 to extend the 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew prohibiting nonessential travel until April 17. They removed a provision for enforcement on private properties for gatherings of more than 10 people.
Commissioners Vanessa Baugh and Stephen Jonsson voted against extending the curfew citing concerns with civil liberties.
Jonsson represents Anna Maria Island, Cortez and northwest Bradenton.
Public safety director Jacob Saur told commissioners the curfew eased the workload of first responders.
In the first week of the curfew, the county’s emergency medical services experienced a 19.8% drop in call volume, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office saw a 25.3% decrease in calls for service and there was a 70% decrease in motor vehicle crashes, Saur said.
He said the curfew allowed first responders to focus resources on dealing with the virus outbreak.
“Our state and our county will continue to feel the effects of COVID-19,” he said. “Now is not the time to relax our personal efforts to stop the spread.”
Curfew violators face charges of a second-degree misdemeanor, as well as up to a $500 fine and/or up to 60 days in jail.
However, the resolution asked law enforcement to educate violators and reserve other options as a last resort.
County attorney Mickey Palmer said the April 3 resolution had allowed law enforcement to enforce CDC guidelines on private property, but the county received a letter April 7 from the American Civil Liberties Union opposing the measure.
The provision was removed from the April 10 resolution, which now applies to public property.
Medical professionals spoke in favor of the curfew.
“The Manatee County Medical Society applauds your decision to enact a curfew in Manatee County to further protect its citizens above and beyond the governor’s most recent order,” said Dr. Scott Clulow, reading aloud a letter from his board. “We know that this is a difficult decision. It took courage to do so, even with the opposition of some citizens concerned about violation of civil rights.”
Joseph Haider, a medical resident at Manatee Memorial Hospital in Bradenton, said the measure was needed to help flatten the curve and prevent hospitals from becoming overrun. He said MMH was short on ventilators and staff was driven to exhaustion.
“I think Republican, Democrat and anything in between is out the door,” Haider said. “We all belong to humanity at this point.”
“The curfew is one of the measures that will improve the numbers game in terms of exposure (for frontline workers),” Dr. Werther Marciales from MMH said. He said because some hospital staff were quarantined due to exposure to the virus, the hospital was “running a kind of skeleton crew.”
“We cannot expose all the physicians at one time and get them sick,” Marciales continued.
Yet several residents told commissioners during public comment that the curfew violated their civil liberties.
“You should all be fired and removed, but we can’t do that until election time,” Andrea Griffin said. “And believe me, we will remember. My government has no rights to make decisions for me and my family.”
“This was put in place to scare us,” resident George Crews said.
Jonsson, who voted against the curfew April 3, agreed, saying he still would not support the measure.
“The resolution is primarily a fear tactic, and I think we’ve done a good job of spooking the community,” Jonsson said. “I think this curfew is nothing more than scaring a lot of people, and everybody is already scared.”
Commissioner Carol Whitmore, who lives in Holmes Beach and serves as an at-large representative on the board, referred to the medical community’s endorsements of the curfew and stated her support.
“Leadership is about public safety. That’s our role,” she said. “We’re not trying to scare anybody. We’re just trying to give the information. If it makes you nervous, maybe you’ll actually listen.”
On the 5-2 vote for extending the curfew, Whitmore was joined by Betsy Benac, also an at-large member commissioner, as well as Reggie Bellamy, Priscilla Trace and Misty Servia.
On AMI
Meanwhile, officials in the three island cities wrestled with vacation rentals over the Easter weekend.
In Holmes Beach, Mayor Judy Titsworth said police officers spent the week ending April 11 enforcing the governor’s order against new vacation rental reservations of less than 30 days and new check-ins in short-term rentals.
The HBPD identified two alleged violations April 6 and April 7 and issued notices to appear in court to the renters and property owners at both locations.
Because the governor’s order expired April 10, island officials expressed concern they might see an influx of vacationing renters over the Easter weekend.
Titsworth enacted an executive order April 7 against new vacation rental reservations and check-ins until the state’s safer-at-home order expires April 30.
Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach officials didn’t enact orders, but there was agreement in the three cities to ask the county to ask the governor to extend the limits on vacation rentals throughout the month.
“Don’t tie our hands,” Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie said April 9 about reopening vacation rentals. “Please, don’t make dealing with the influx of people with COVID-19 harder than it already is.”
Titsworth, in a daily report April 8, wrote, “In the event that the governor does not extend this order, the city attorney has been tasked to research the municipal legal ability to draft an official mandate that can be locally enforced.”
In Anna Maria, Mayor Dan Murphy said April 9 that he would look into enacting a city order dealing with vacation rentals if the governor’s order was not extended.
Murphy said opening vacation rentals would attract tens of thousands of people to the city, posing a threat to residents, especially the high-risk older population.
“We’re not going to be victims,” Murphy said.
County commissioners voted unanimously April 10 to send the request to Gov. Ron DeSantis, but he took action before their letter was sent.
On April 10, DeSantis extended the short-term rental ban to April 30. His order does not apply to hotels, motels, resorts, timeshares, non-transient lodging establishments and rentals of 30 days or more.
It directs the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to revoke vacation rental licenses for violators of the order that advertise rental opportunities or accept new reservations and check-ins.