The coronavirus is showing it can’t be trusted.
“We almost made it to the other side without a contamination,” Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth told The Islander March 12.
After a year without registering a single case of COVID-19, eight city employees tested positive for the coronavirus after an unnamed staff member at city hall exposed them during the week beginning Feb. 22, according to the mayor.
Two family members of staff also were exposed to the virus due to the outbreak.
Three of the 10 people infected were hospitalized for the illness.
Titsworth and code compliance officer JT Thomas were among those infected in the city hall outbreak, where the administrative staff, building and police departments operate.
“It can happen to anyone,” Thomas said.
Titsworth said she began feeling ill Feb. 26 and immediately sent an email closing city hall.
She tested positive later the same day.
City hall was closed Feb. 26-March 5 while the city hired a crew to sanitize the building. Unexposed staff worked from home until city hall reopened to staff who tested negative March 8.
Thomas told The Islander March 12 that he had recovered and tested negative for the virus and returned to work.
“I think our mayor and our commissioners did a great job showing awareness and shutting us down,” Thomas said. “Everybody worked together to isolate it, secure us and make sure everybody was safe.”
Titsworth said the outbreak was a testament to the virus’ contagiousness since the city has employed multiple safety measures to prevent its spread within city hall.
Measures include restricting access to appointments only, hand-sanitizer stations and requiring that people wear face masks inside city buildings— with some exceptions for age, health conditions and to consume food and beverages.
However, staff at city hall weren’t required to wear face masks among other employees if they maintained social distance.
“I was so surprised at how quickly it spread in one day,” Titsworth said.
Referring to a staff member, she said, “I kept a distance of 6 feet between me and him, and he was only in my office for maybe two minutes. It was an eye-opener for me to see how fast it spreads.”
Titsworth said that due to the outbreak, staff at city hall now must wear face masks when in the same room as others, regardless of social distancing.
Police Chief Bill Tokajer told The Islander March 11 that the outbreak was a scary experience.
“We kind of knew it would happen eventually and we were lucky it took so long to reach us,” Tokajer said. “But it did make quite a few people pretty sick, so it is very scary, and they’re all friends and employees of the city.”
“For now, we’re just happy that everybody’s on the mend, and we’re hoping they can return to work soon, healthy and happy,” he added.
Looking back, shifting rules
It’s been a year since Florida, Manatee County and all three cities on Anna Maria Island began taking precautions against the coronavirus in March 2020.
By March 16, 2020, 136 Floridians had tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in four deaths. Four confirmed cases had been identified in Manatee County, with no deaths.
As of this March 12, those numbers had risen to 1,967,865 confirmed cases in the state, with 32,145 deaths, as well as 33,076 confirmed cases and 624 deaths in the county.
State and local governments have taken several stabs at combating the coronavirus’ spread during that time.
Efforts began when Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency March 9, 2020, as cases began appearing within the state. He suspended nonessential travel for state employees and recommended canceling mass gatherings within the same week.
Manatee County and the three island cities followed suit a week later, declaring states of emergency March 16-17, 2020, to grant the municipalities additional power to enact measures to mitigate the pandemic.
The states of emergency remained in place as of March 12, with each municipality extending its declaration to match the seemingly endless pandemic.
Like their emergency declarations, some of the island cities’ safety measures remained in place the whole year.
All three city halls closed to the public the same week the municipalities declared states of emergency in an effort to limit the virus’ spread from the public to staff members — and vice versa.
The buildings remained closed to the public as of March 12, with access limited by appointments.
Similarly, hand-sanitizer stations remain in many of the same places the cities set them as the municipalities’ first counter measures against the pandemic.
However, not all safety measures have held steady.
Early in the pandemic, DeSantis issued an executive order that allowed municipal boards to meet virtually to prevent the virus’ spread among elected officials.
DeSantis rescinded the executive order last November and required in-person quorums for public meetings.
Anna Maria and Holmes Beach maintained virtual public access to their public meetings, but Bradenton Beach stopped providing virtual access soon after DeSantis’ order was rescinded.
Additionally, restrictions on transient lodging reservations and public access to the island’s beaches ended soon after beginning.
By the end of last March, the island’s beaches and boat ramps were closed to the public and only accessible to residents and renters within city limits.
The island beaches were lined with thousands of people this March 12, as spring break got underway for many students across the United States.
In place of the wayward regulations, Anna Maria and Holmes Beach mandated last summer that people wear face masks in public accommodations or face fines and trespassing charges for noncompliance.
When DeSantis last fall issued an executive order prohibiting municipalities from issuing fines for mask-based violations, both cities retained their mask mandates despite the fact that the orders only can be enforced through trespassing noncompliant people from establishments.
Bradenton Beach never implemented a mask mandate.
Reacting to COVID’s 1-year anniversary
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy called the past year handling the pandemic, “Difficult and time consuming.”
Murphy said that, looking back, he believed the city did “the best we could with the hand we were dealt” to protect its citizens and staff from the deadly virus.
Murphy did not detail if any city staff had tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, but said mask usage and regular disinfection were the most effective measures the city took to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Both Murphy and Titsworth said people have been largely cooperative with their cities’ mask mandates.
“People understand that our mask mandates allow people to feel safe to go out and shop again,” Titsworth said. “This was and continues to be an important measure.”
Moving forward, Murphy said he’d like to see an “islandwide” vaccination pop-up clinic.
He said a pop-up clinic would be helpful because the island’s population skews older, is constantly exposed to a churn of tourists visiting the island and faces a long drive to the county vaccination site at Tom Bennett Park near Interstate 75.
Titsworth called the past year an unexpected challenge and praised people for being “team players.”
“I would like to thank them for their perseverance and for their patience,” Titsworth said.
Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie did not respond to a March 12 call from The Islander.