Large-scale events and festivals in Islamorada won’t happen any time soon, following the village council’s recent decision to halt the issuance of temporary use permits to early summer.
Concerns over the upcoming spring break and the flow of visitors, as well as the percentage of those vaccinated in the county to date, led to the 5-0 vote during a Feb. 25 meeting.
Before rendering the decision, the dais welcomed the county’s top health officer, Bob Eadie, via Zoom to discuss Monroe County’s standing in the COVID-19 pandemic. While he acknowledged optimism with the infection rate — one of the lowest in all of Florida — he told council members precautions need to continue with infections occurring throughout the islands.
Of some concern was the increased number in pediatric cases in the recent week or so, Eadie said.
“I don’t know whether that means anything at all right now, but it does serve as a reminder that we need to be, as a community, cautious and conservative as far as what our next moves will be.”
More vaccinations are coming into the county, as more sites are coming online by the day. Eadie said he hopes eventually to have a vaccination clinic at Founders Park. A vaccination event is scheduled for March 6 at the Murray Nelson Government Center in Key Largo.
Eadie said the Florida Health Department in Monroe County receives around 500 doses a week, which is up from 100 it was receiving at the outset. Publix and Winn Dixie stores are obtaining shots through the federal pharmacy program, although it’s unknown how many they’re obtaining weekly.
Eadie said he believes doses will significantly increase in the next four to six weeks throughout the country.
“I’m optimistic that we’re moving in the right direction,” he said. “Six months from now, I think our world will be vastly different in a positive way.”
Councilman Pete Bacheler asked Eadie if it’s too early to allow events like flea markets. Eadie said he’d like municipalities to stay the course for at least four more weeks.
“It’s obviously working; look at our numbers and trends compared to other parts of Florida and the country. I think being conservative is the right thing to do,” Eadie said.
Entering March, Councilman David Webb said the island is only beginning to see the flow of people from spring break. Webb also asked Eadie what percentage of the county is vaccinated, to which the reply was 10.7%.
“A lot of people are acting like because the vaccine is available and distributed that it’s over. We have a very, very small percentage of people that are actually vaccinated,” he said. “All the spring breakers coming from all over the United States, the likelihood is none of them have been vaccinated. While the impact might not be critical to them, they can infect anybody else.”
Webb subsequently led a motion extending a halt on village-sanctioned events to June 1, and it received unanimous support. Council members originally approved an event restriction to April 1 in their first meeting together in November. It led to the cancellation of the Upper Keys Gigantic Nautical Flea Market that usually welcomes roughly 300 vendors and thousands of attendees. The annual swim to Alligator Lighthouse, third Thursday art walks on Morada Way and the annual Baygrass Bluegrass festival were also affected.
“People can do whatever they want in their homes, and people can do what they want with private property and bars and everything else,” Webb said. “What I’m concerned about is us sanctioning something that is not in our best interest. I know people aren’t going to be happy with it, but I’d rather take the criticism and be conservative and do the right thing than be second-guessed if we had some kind of a super spreader event.”
Supporting the motion, Bacheler said it’s better to be prudent than to “make a mistake and get a lot of people sick.” Councilman Mark Gregg agreed, stating that it’s smarter to telegraph an expectation to the community rather than “bread crumb them along a week or a month at a time.”
