March 2020
Spring break 2020 ran directly into the pandemic. Florida beaches stayed open into mid-March while the rest of the country shut down, the images of packed sand became a national argument, and later work traced infections back along the routes the students took home.
Part of Spring Break
8 moments in this segment.
- - Warnings do not empty the beach. WPLG Local 10 finds South Florida beaches busy on 11 March 2020, with spring break visitors largely unbothered by the first coronavirus warnings.
- - Fort Lauderdale carries on. WPLG Local 10 reports from Fort Lauderdale as spring breakers stay on the sand while Florida's confirmed COVID-19 case count climbs.
- - An emergency order as the break begins. CBS Miami reports Miami Beach declaring a state of emergency over coronavirus on 12 March 2020, with events across the city cancelled or postponed.
- - The party against the shutdown. Global News reports from Miami as bars and restaurants close around students who say they intend to keep going. This week of footage became the emblem of the March 2020 spring break.
- - The governor leaves the beaches open. A news report from 19 March 2020 covering Governor Ron DeSantis's decision not to order Florida's beaches closed at the height of the spring break rush.
- - Florida beaches stay busy as the virus spreads. Agency coverage from 19 March 2020 showing visitors still on Florida sand after Governor Ron DeSantis barred beach gatherings of more than ten people. The crowds that week drew national attention.
- - A plea from the CDC as the crowds return. With bars and beaches busy again at South Padre Island in March 2021, the director of the CDC urged students and families to take precautions before travelling. Health authorities warned that gatherings of that size could seed a new wave of infections.
- - Pandemic worry meets the 2021 crowds. A news report on the public-health concerns raised by the spring break crowds that returned to Miami Beach in March 2021, a year after the pandemic closed the beaches. It captures the first break after the shutdown.
