As of this writing, about 100 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered worldwide. That’s a lot, and there’s reason to be happy about that fact alone. But then you have to understand how many people are in the world, and how many people are left to be vaccinated. President Biden has promised for a massive vaccination ramp up throughout the late winter and spring, and there’s every hope that by June/July, America will be in a pretty good place, vaccination-wise. But…we’re not there yet. Not even close. We’re still very far from normal and all of the vaccination talk has combined with the regular old “I won’t wear a mask because muh freedum” thing and that’s how we get these shocking scenes out of – where else – Florida.
The fact that the grocery store cashiers aren’t wearing masks… my God. Every grocery store I go into in Virginia has those plastic partitions between cashiers and customers, and every cashier is masked, and it’s the law that every customer needs a mask too. My area isn’t as rednecky as CB’s area, and I don’t see as many maskless people out and about in stores anymore. People follow the mask mandate around here, but we have a great Democratic governor who has taken this seriously from the very start. Florida has MAGA clown Ron DeSantis as its governor and it f–king shows.
There are some people saying that these people, the cashiers and the customers, should all be denied the vaccine. I mean… I actually agree with that in principle, I just don’t know how any of it would be or could be enforced.
As #Flordia fights community spread of COVID on a massive scale, this is a 15-second snapshot of a supermarket in Naples. Many employees and customers- even older ones- with no masks on inside. Store sign outside cites “medical exemptions,” we can’t ask questions. @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/rNUSOPLjeB
— Sam Brock (@SamBrockNBC) February 3, 2021
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Yeah… That’s a Fresh Market store. Sort of the Deep South equivalent of Whole Paycheck. You have to have money to pay their prices, or to live in Naples FL. And most of that money comes from north of the Mason-Dixon line. My guess is, a bunch of snowbird Karens squawked and the store caved.
No, it’s Oakes Farms. The owner, Alfie Oakes is a huge MAGA. Fresh Market has a mask policy, at least in my area.
This MAGAt was interviewed on cam, by the CNN reporter that went in for a sandwich and saw/filmed it. This COVIDIOT was sputtering about how masks do *nothing*, the 450 THOUSAND deaths (and rising) were NOT from covid, and why aren’t we closing down the country for HEART ATTACKS. He kept repeating that. Seriously.
Fresh Market has a mask policy in my area, too, and partitions in front of the cashiers.
Good to know so I never go there
Thanks Mellymel. I saw the 15 second clip, not the one with audio, and the store set up and logo looked so much like Fresh Market. And, the first (and last) time I was recently there around the holidays, there were way too many people without masks.
In my part of NE Florida, Publix has been pretty good about enforcing the mask policy.
I live in Florida and 90% of the adult people I see out and about in stores are wearing masks.
All retail outlets in the Florida county in which I live require masks to enter.
My Mom is spending the winter in Naples, as she does most years. She’s wearing a mask & gloves, only seeing her friends outside, etc. But most of her friends are snowbirds, like her and have come from NY where mask-wearing is fairly common/normal. She said that most of the time, she’s seeing people put on masks when they walk into a store where it is required. People aren’t wearing them when they are walking around outside (as she does).
She had COVID in April and still has a fairly high anti-body level, so I’m less concerned about her getting sick again. I still want her to get a vaccine ASAP, but I’m not as panicked about it as I might otherwise be.
That’s what I saw in Miami-Dade County when I worked there four months last summer. I was pleasantly surprised at the mask-wearing & rules. All I had known previously about Florida I learned from Carl Hiaasen books.
As a Mississippian, I can tell you it is challenging when your governor is an idiot and does not want to upset his base. The local Fresh Market, Whole Foods, and one small locally owned grocery are the only stores I visit as they enforce the mask policy. I have decided to avoid MAGAs and will not engage. One local business owner post regularly on social media about the pandemic forcing her out of business and how we must shop local. I shop local as often as possible. However, if you are not wearing a mask and laugh at customers who choose to, many of us will not cross your threshold.
This is a pretty uninformed comment.
Its a shame Florida is so pretty but the people are such utter self absorbed morons.
Thanks, but we’re not all that way. I and everyone I know in my neck of north Florida wears masks.
I wish I could say my thoughts were of concern and mature responsibility toward helping fellow Americans.
I get that people are selfish and don’t care about others, but don’t they care about themselves. I hate even having a cold, I can’t imagine having covid. I would do anything to avoid it. I live in Newfoundland,Canada and we have been very lucky. Barely any active cases, and we all still wear masks and I stay home as much as possible.
Bryn, I live in Quebec, we’ve definitely been hit hard – and yet there are still people who protest about wearing masks, protest about curfews and lockdowns, and so on. It honestly blows my mind, because we know first hand how bad it can be!
I think it’s a combination of people thinking that it won’t happen to them, along with them not caring about anyone else, or at least not caring about them more than they care about the bottom line.
I am in Toronto and we had plexiglass divisions at convenience stores and grocery stores since last April. Even before the mandatory mask order the workers were masked up. Now that everyone has to wear a mask inside public spaces, including condos, it is just bizarre to see people doing this, knowing how easily this virus spreads. And the obvious elderly people without anything… it’s insane.
Desantis is criminally negligent and he is hiding the real numbers too. I wish Canada would place a stricter travel advisory for the snowbirds who want to go to Florida because they are the ones who brought it back here in the first place last year (ontario and Quebec anyway) and they will end up doing it again. (No pity for the ones who have to pay out of pocket for the new testing protocol on arrival back to Canada. If you want to go travel for fun the pay for the whole damn thing. )
Canadian snowbirds are a smug and entitled bunch! I’m tired of reading about how they got around travel rules to winter in Florida or Mexico, how they got a vaccine in Florida, and now how they plan to get around the new Covid testing rules on re-entering Canada by “staying in paradise longer”. For those of us who have been locked down all winter here at home, it’s exhausting and maddening to read about these selfish people.
Canadian here–and yes. I LOATHE our snowbirds now, after what they pulled last year and what they’re pulling now. Y’all can keep them down there. Please.
That said, I honestly can’t look at anyone who travelled for leisure since this whole thing began. Or my head will spontaneously rage-combust.
right? Is it mean to feel maybe it is a bit darwinian? although those may be the same (rich) people that will buy their vaccine before the rest of us have a chance.
In my part of Florida, masks have been mandatory since last March, especially in grocery stores. It really depends on the county you live in. I fortunately live in a blue area of the state. We’re not all lost.
Yep, I’m in the Tampa area (blue), and there are masks everywhere that “sensible” people are: grocery stores, Home Depot, thrift stores, convenience stores, etc. We do have a problem with bars but that kinda goes along with the clientele. At least if you want to be safer, you can live your life without being exposed to maskless people.
I went down to Ft Myers (very red) a few months ago to see a baby nephew, and NOBODY was wearing a mask wherever we went. Apparently they don’t even wear masks at my nephew’s day care? WTF. I kept my masks on, didn’t touch anything, and quickly left. I’ll see him again after I get my shot.
Florida is such a weird state. It’s pretty 50-50 between blue and red, and the blue areas are generally pretty blue, while the red areas are VERY red.
I live over by Daytona Beach in a red county and this is why I do not shop in groceries stores. Winn Dixie and Publix refuse to tell people to put masks on and the MAGA idiots here refuse to wear masks.
I use Shipt every week and have been since April 2020 because I have asthma. I’ve lived here 10 years but hate Florida so much now under DeSantis that I put my house on the market and I’m leaving the “Sunshine State” in hopefully a month or so.
I think it has to do with the Florida county you live in. When I go into retail stores every person I see is wearing a mask and the few that not wearing masks are young children.
Now, being on the beach, on a gold course or in a public park is a whole different matter.
No surprise about Publix. Heiress to the Publix supermarket chain, Julie Jenkins Fancelli, was the main finder of the Jan. 6 insurrection rally. I will never shop at that grocery store again, and anyone who cares about democracy should not either.
Denying these people a vaccine, while gratifying, would be useless because they never had any intention of getting one anyway.
Most of the will get one. Big talkers, not so much when no one is looking.
That’s honestly my hope. Talk real big on your facebook page, but when it comes down to it, they don’t REALLY want to die.
Someone I know in that area gets taunted when they do wear a mask. It’s insane.
I wish this only affected people who were too stupid/selfish/careless to protect themselves, but the sad thing is these idiots then spread it to others who do take it seriously and try to follow the guidelines.
That makes me SO mad. I only wish those idiots could read the medical chart I just read 15 minutes ago that made me cry at my desk. They really don’t want to catch it.
I live in a small town in Texas – our state supposedly has a mask mandate but our county officials announced they would not enforce it. So when I do have to go out, I am one of the few people masked and even then people still have their noses out of the masks. It is utterly infuriating.
I have a friend in Jacksonville who is always posting pictures of herself and friends at restaurants and bars with not one face mask in sight. I am disturbed by it all.
I’ve muted all those people. I’ve been alone in my home since the beginning of the pandemic. Would I love to be out and about with my friends? Yes. But I prefer to be alive when this thing ends (hopefully soon). I’m moving to a state with a Democratic governor and a mask mandate. It was what I looked for when I decided to sell my home in FL. DeSantis, can go f himself.
This is mind-blowing to me. Wear a mask! Do you want to get sick? do you want your neighbor to get sick? wear a mask!
Our Republican governor has been pushing masks since the beginning of this. l live in a pretty red county (half of my county is represented by Andy Harris, i.e. the guy who tried to bring a gun to congress two weeks ago), and my parents live in a very red area – Eastern Shore of MD. Everyone is in a mask. Sometimes when people are outside its less consistent (like we went sledding the other day and very few people were in masks but people were still socially distancing), but inside? Everyone is in a mask. And the small businesses are the strictest about masks and social distancing, which makes sense because they were hit so hard by the shutdowns in the spring.
I just dont get it. Wear the damn mask.
I lay so much of this at the feet of Trump. He decided from the beginning that Masks are for P*ssies. Would everyone have worn a mask if he wore one too? No, of course not (ma rights!!!), but once he declared it a sign of weakness and a culture war, there was no hope for so many people.
I think it does stem from him because mask wearing in Canada has been something that even the trump lite politicians like Doug Ford have been encouraging. I have a whole list of things I can complain about how Ford has handled things in Ontario, but he hasn’t been anti mask.
I live in the Tampa area (only for 2 more weeks thank Jebus!) and the headline on the front page of the Tampa Bay Times yesterday was “Visit, We’re Super Safe.” A more accurate headline would be “Come catch COVID and carry it back to all your friends and family at home! It’s the Super Bowl so who cares!” As of right now, I know 5 people from 3 different states who all tested positive after separate vacations to Orlando. This is why the pandemic will never end. [SOBS LOUDLY]
Exactly! If everyone had been forced into lockdown for a few weeks at the very beginning, Covid would be gone! There wouldn’t be more and more mutations that may not be susceptible to the vaccine. So many of us have been careful and isolated and are paying for the rest of these idiots by a longer and longer pandemic. Australia and New Zealand kept things locked down in the beginning and now life goes on very normally there. When a case arises, they again go into lockdown for a couple of weeks and then it’s life as normal again.
Many of my extended family have places in FL, being from the Midwest that’s what you do right? Well all of the ones that have had covid are the ones that got it while in FL, surprise surprise. It’s also the reason they keep going back for vacation once a month and have moved showers, weddings, bachelor/bachelorette parties down there, because everything IS back to normal in a lot of the state.
ETA: Were any of them sick and getting treatment in FL? No, they all started having symptoms the day after or a couple days after they got home in the Midwest so that’s what’s happening everywhere. People travel to these places, get sick but take it back where the hospitals are full and FL doesn’t have to count them or deal with them in the hospitals.
Today’s front page: “How to keep Super Bowl from being superspreader.”
Short answer: you can’t! 😡
I live in Tampa – we’re have a little event here this weekend. W.T.F.
It’s everywhere – I went to Gulfport recently (it’s a cute touristy area) and had two clowns LAUGH & POINT at me bc I was wearing a mask (one of the few). I now where a shield if I have to go out in public. You have to get into an altercation if you want these idiots to social distance. It’s a nightmare. Honestly, we’re on our own here.
DeSantis is a total p.o.s. and doing all this at the behest of one DJT.
I bought a mask off Etsy that says “My governor is an idiot” with the Florida state seal. I wear it regularly.
I work in health care and the idiocy and self absorption of people never fails to astound me.
I wasn’t planning on leaving Florida until this year. If things keep going crazy politically this is not the state I want to live in. Legit don’t feel safe surrounded by all these ignorant MAGAs
Bless you! So true. What an evil governor we have, so busy this whole pandemic kissing Trump’s ass and the deplorables’ asses.
Cassandra, do you recall the name of that Etsy seller? Because DeSatan is definitely an idiot and I need that mask. I can’t believe he’s still trying to retaliate against Rebekah Jones.
I believe Florida deaths are much greater than are being reported. The statistician/scientist? who the governor is hounding and drove her out of the state, arrested her, etc., has the TRUE numbers. Believe.
This!!
My hospital is transparent about our Covid numbers (we get a weekly email with stats), but I don’t really trust anybody else to report accurately.
I had a schmo in my hotel last night who was a super premium highest tier for LIFE member who refused to wear a mask and I can’t say anything because he would call the special desk and complain about me. And when I was discussing our bar hours he thought it would be HILARIOUS to say “oh I don’t drink. I just do heroin.” And I’m a recovering heroin addict. You’re not funny and take your cooties away from me, please.
I get so upset when I come across anti maskers I just want to scream…
Now they just anger me.. that’s because my mother who was so careful and stayed home all the time didn’t know there was a family member that became an anti masker.. and Masks were removed in my moms home unbeknownst to mom til it was too late. Now they wear them because they seen what happened to mom. After 8 of the most horrendous weeks (blood clots, 2 strokes, skin falling off from weeping, etc..) all from Covid, Last Night my beautiful mom passed away but when she did angel Clouds literally went over the hospital while mom took her last breathe..and my nephew photographed the angel clouds while standing outside her window. She called me the morning before she got put on the ventilator. The nurses don’t know how she did it (mom has no cell phone at all) and her hands were clenched in fists from the first stroke. She also couldn’t see, could barely speak, was gasping for air.. but for 90 minutes here and there as she would doze for a few seconds then wake up she would call out my name to see if I was there on the phone and then she would tell me “the angels are coming to get me.. I hear them.. don’t be mad at me I am tired and it’s Hard to fight. They are coming for me. They told me. So it’s time for you to do all the things I asked you to do if anything ever happened and take care of Your Daddy and everyone. Love each other with no fighting and don’t be mad at me That the Angels Are coming and im tired”.
Oh my God, what a heart-wrenching yet beautiful story. I am so sorry about your mom and I’m sorry your extended family had to learn a painful lesson about wearing masks. But the way you described that last phone call (did you ever figure out how she called you?? did she borrow a phone from a nurse perhaps?) was so… I don’t even have the words, so moving about the clouds, her words to you.
I recently watched the Surviving Death documentary on Netflix and there was a whole episode about people nearing the end of their lives and how they claim to experience visitations from loved ones who have passed. It sounds like maybe your mom may have experienced this. I don’t know what your religious beliefs are but maybe that episode will give you some comfort (ignore the episodes about mediums… I watched them and even for me it was too over the top).
Thank you Amelie. No the hospital never could explain to any of us how she called. The nurses even were in the room 3x while mom was with me on our landline and I called them on my cell phone. Because 3x mom started gasping so badly calling for the nurse (not being able to see and distinguish a call light button). 3x they came in and I could hear everything she struggled to say and they said to her.. they can’t explain it. Sadly today my dad and I are making her cremation arrangements.. and gloves have come off. What my mom had hoped her death would bring didn’t happen. I so wish it had. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. So I thank you for your kindness. ❤️
Oh Green Eyes, my most sincere condolences on the loss of your mom. *virtual hugs from an internet stranger*
Thank you so much A Reader. I truly appreciate it. I miss her so much. ❤️
@GREENEYES, I cried sweet tears reading what you wrote. Before my mother passed, I watched her cry and yell ‘Momma’( my grandmother had recently passed at the time). I didn’t understand any of it at the time but now find solace in knowing she was about to be with her for eternity. Know your mother is truly resting in peace and live right so you can see her again one day. Godspeed🙏🏽♥️🤗.
I’m very sorry.
Thank you so much Exactly. Also thank you for sharing your heart warming story. I do believe we are greeted by loved ones at the end.. Godspeed with you as well.. I now understand what a broken heart truly is.
OMG GreenEyes, my heart goes out to you. Take care.
Chrissy thank you so very much. ❤️
I live in Palm beach county…. Let tell you something about Publix. The refuse to enforce mask wearing… Yet they profit from providing the vaccine a to our community. Sweetheart deal made with governor Death sentence.
We thought about moving back to the south, as I’m from Nashville but then Trump got elected and I pulled the breaks. Best decision ever. In our part of the country people who don’t wear masks are the minority and when people come into our shop without a mask we hand them one and they put it on because they are embarrassed to have forgotten one-there is no drama. Fu*^k DeSantis what a twat. Florida gets such a bad wrap but it’s just the people that suck the state is gorgeous!
I live in the Greater Orlando area, a city in the same county , and I work in downtown Orlando. I am surrounded by probably half MAGATS and half sane Dems, but when I go into Publix, CVS, Walgreens, etc., people all wear their masks. Publix was diligent for months with arrows for one-way aisles. They eventually eased up on that. Every great once in a while when I go in there I will see a maskless idiot.
I have an Orlando friend who has been holding Baha’i religious services in her home as of a week or two ago. I’m on the verge of unfriending her, I’m so mad her for being so insanely selfish.
I travel 100,000 miles per year for business. My job is on the road.
I had a business trip scheduled to Florida in November, and I worried about it for months. And like clockwork, when I arrived, there were folks walking around the (upscale boutique!) hotel without masks with no enforcement – no wonder, since the hotel security guard was riding around on the elevator without a mask too. Floridians were an absolute self-absorbed $h!#show.
I caught Covid on that trip. I was sick the entire month of November, became terrified of travel and had to leave my job as a result.
Those people can all burn in hell. Their supposed freedoms DO NOT outweigh MY RIGHT to good health and to not be infected by them.
Something that’s always stuck in my head is during the plague (black death? Bubonic? I don’t know), a map showed that it spared two places. I think one was Hungary, because there was a large Jewish population and hand washing was culturally normal, and an Italian city, Milan, maybe. And Milan didn’t have it, because anytime someone was suspected of having the plague, their home was burned to the ground with the entire family in it.
I’ve thought about this a lot the past year. Seems like plague choices come down to practice hygiene, burn the place down, or let it run rampant through the population in horrifying ways.
Hey, Florida? I see you and raise you one. Arizona’s governor has decided that space heaters for restaurants and vaccinations are the only thing we need to fight Covid.
And he’s making noise that online schools will not be paid for. Only in person schools will get funding.
He’s worse than pond scum.
I don’t worry about these people getting the vaccine as if they are not wearing a mask then they won’t get the vaccine either. More for the rest of us. I am in L.A. and a teacher and since winter break it has been non stop of my students having it, their grandparents and parents dying. I have a student who lost both parents within three weeks and he is an only child. It is just heartbreaking constantly for our students and staff. Yet here are people who still don’t believe that there are this many deaths. There is no convincing them and I won’t waste my breath.
Went to my local chain restaurant Cafe Rio on Sunday (during off hours for the first time since March). It’s an assembly line food production. The line worker had his mask UNDER his nose. My husband asked him politely to please pull his mask up before making our food. The dude walked away disgruntled while his coworkers just looked away. We walked out. Dude, you’re breathing on our food during a pandemic! We all have to prioritize our own health & boundaries right now (since the minority choose to remain obstinate & ignorant).
I live in South Florida, this market is on the gulf coast and I haven’t been there since the summer before covid. Where I live almost everyone wears a mask when in stores. Dade county is overwhelmingly Hispanic and even those who voted for Trump (because communism 🙄) seem to respect doctors’ opinions above all. You don’t see as many rabid anti-maskers as you do further north/west and there are waiting lists for the vaccine. I have many Facebook friends who now live in smaller cities in Central Florida and the Panhandle and I notice far too many pics of maskless entertaining.
My elderly parents in that neck of the woods were just a few weeks away getting the vax. They hadn’t left their house in 10 months and frankly had a terrible year. Three weeks ago both came down with covid from one of their caretakers (despite the fact that they all wore masks). My dad was in the ICU with pneumonia , was intubated, and and nearly died. There are consequences to this behavior. Btw my dad always claimed that Florida is way better than California where I live. It may be true but I am still pissed off at the folks in his area that won’t wear masks.
My elderly parents in that neck of the woods were just a few weeks away getting the vax. They hadn’t left their house in 10 months and frankly had a terrible year. Three weeks ago both came down with covid from one of their caretakers (despite the fact that they all wore masks). My dad was in the ICU with pneumonia , was intubated, and and nearly died. There are consequences to this behavior. Btw my dad always claimed that Florida is way better than California where I live. It may be true but I am still pissed off at the folks in his area that won’t wear masks.
My elderly parents in that neck of the woods were just a few weeks away getting the vax. They hadn’t left their house in 10 months and frankly had a terrible year. Three weeks ago both came down with covid from one of their caretakers (despite the fact that they all wore masks). My dad was in the ICU with pneumonia , was intubated, and and nearly died. There are consequences to this behavior. Btw my dad always claimed that Florida is way better than California where I live. It may be true but I am still pissed off at the folks in his area that won’t wear masks.
My elderly parents in that neck of the woods were just a few weeks away getting the vax. They hadn’t left their house in 10 months and frankly had a terrible year. Three weeks ago both came down with covid from one of their caretakers (despite the fact that they all wore masks). My dad was in the ICU with pneumonia , was intubated, and and nearly died. There are consequences to this behavior. Btw my dad always claimed that Florida is way better than California where I live. It may be true but I am still pissed off at the folks in his area that won’t wear masks.
Ha, omg, glad you ran this piece because I saw a headline about that clip last week but no “FL” in the lede so I thought it was in Italy. I don’t know why that matters to me.
I live in Florida; Orlando, no less, and most (if not all) of th people I see are wearing masks. Fresh Market is a great store and has very strict mask/protocols and led the way with those endeavors from the start. I am a public health nurse and have a decent awareness of my surroundings regarding masks, etc. The “oh Florida” jokes are seriously getting old- yes, the numbers are often there to support them, but let’s face it- few places are getting it right. And for the record our governor is an idiot…. does not mean we all are. Rant over.
I’m currently in Tampa and about 50% of people in downtown tampa are wearing masks, the restaurants are crowded and there’s no social distancing on the River Walk.