— Mandy Miles and Jim McCarthy contributed to this report.
There’s a checkpoint turning motorists around. There’s a ban on all vacation rentals. But airports are still open, and the bus from Miami-Dade continues to transport workers to the islands.
Marathon City Manager Chuck Lindsey said officials need to either tighten controls at the airport, or secure it entirely. And, he said, as far as he’s concerned, the Miami-Dade bus need not stop in Marathon anymore.
On Sunday, one of the bus passengers disembarked at the Kmart in Marathon and called 911 because he was in medical distress.
“We received the call early Sunday morning and transferred the patient to Fishermen’s Hospital in Marathon,” said Marathon Fire Chief John Johnson. Johnson said the passenger had no legitimate reason to be in the Keys.
“To our knowledge he does not work, to our knowledge he was a homeless individual, and not somebody we’ve seen before,” Johnson said.
The passenger received a rapid COVID-19 test and was determined to be virus-free four hours later. He was subsequently released into the community.
While passengers aboard commercial flights into Key West International Airport are being screened and providing contact information to local officials, passengers aboard private planes at Key West airport and Florida Keys Marathon International Airport are being met with paper copies of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order regarding protocols for air passengers arriving from “hot spots” instructing them to self-quarantine for 14 days. Monroe County Airports Director Richard Strickland said the county has interpreted the governor’s screening order to apply only to commercial flights, not general aviation. Monroe County does not have the authority to close airports; that must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Some of this we have jurisdiction over, and some we do not. But we do have a significant number of general aviation, or private planes, arriving at both Key West and Marathon airports,” said Key West Mayor Teri Johnston.
Strickland said that’s not the case. “We have ten a week landing at each airport — Key West and Marathon airports, and all of those are from out of state. I am not counting flights that originate within Florida,” he said.
At Key West airport, it’s possible to identify the exact number of flights arriving because it has a manned air tower. Marathon does not have one, although the local Fixed Base Operator, a private business, does keep records on fuel sales, etc.
Marathon councilman Dan Zieg, also a pilot, said the number of planes at Marathon airport, “doesn’t seem like a huge problem.” Also, not all general aviation pilots file flight plans.
MARINAS
Local marinas who rent slips are not immune from the short-term vacation rental ban. (It also applies to time shares and RV spots.) And yet, as of April 5, five groups of renters in Key West had been sent home, according to Key West Code Compliance Director Jim Young. They had arrived by air and by boat, he said.
“We have one guy at a Key West marina who came down on his yacht from Fort Lauderdale and is staying at a Key West marina,” Young said. “We quarantined him to his boat, and told him he had to go. He was dragging his feet, and then City Manager Greg Veliz interceded and directed the marina owner to ensure that he leaves.”
