Despite the serious threat of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, more than 100 people ignored Florida’s stay-at-home order last weekend in favor of attending a neighborhood Easter cookout.
As the Pensacola News Journal reported, it took responding police officers nearly two hours to break up the gathering of individuals, most of whom weren’t even wearing face masks.
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A Facebook Live video taken during the event shows police officers encouraging the attendees to disperse.
In the video, officers can be seen driving through the neighborhood with megaphones as they instruct everyone to obey Gov. DeSantis’ stay-at-home order and end their enormous gathering.
Tadarious Archie, a resident of the Attucks Court housing project where the party took place, recorded the video on his cell phone and streamed it live to his Facebook account. That clip has since been been viewed by nearly 3 million users and has been shared over 80,000 times.
According to Pensacola Police Department spokesman Officer Mike Wood, no arrests were made and no citations were issued.
Instead, he told the Journal , the new protocol is to encourage people to separate while also educating them in the process, which is exactly how Sunday’s Easter block party was handled.
“The officers were telling the people not only to disperse, but they were explaining social distancing to them and why it was so important,” Wood explained. “Many of those in attendance were young and we were trying to explain to them that while they may think they’re not at high risk for the virus, they can bring it home to their older family members.”
Another video of the cookout was posted to Twitter, prompting angry reactions from outraged users.
“At this point in the pandemic, this is unacceptable,” one person wrote, while another added, “It is irresponsible how they are going to contaminate innocent people because of their selfishness.”
“People like this don’t take this seriously,” this user commented. “Hence why we have to stay home and not work. Thanks for helping us lose our homes and wealth.
On April 1, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide “stay-at-home” order, urging residents to only leave their homes for essential trips.
The order, which went into effect last week, will last for at least 30 days.
As of writing, the state has reported 20,984 confirmed COVID-19 cases with a total of 571 deaths as a result of the novel virus.
Last Updated on April 15, 2020 by Caitlyn Clancey
