For years, it’s normal for Spring Breakers to hit Miami’s beautiful beaches during Spring Break. But this time around, as the US is still hitting 60,000 new cases on average, around 60% of colleges canceled Spring Break. The reason is to prevent students from traveling during the pandemic. Instead, it is common to see colleges offer alternative breaks such as mid-week off.
At the University of California, administrators even offered $75 staycation grants for their students to convince them to stop traveling. This grant was available to 2,500 students.
One of the biggest roadblocks that colleges face to stop Spring Breakers from traveling is their online classes. It only means students can go and attend their classes anywhere as long as there’s a stable internet connection.
Large Crowd of Spring Breakers
It is well documented last year that Spring Break 2020 helped spread the virus. But this time around, health officials are scrambling to prevent the spread of new variants. There are new studies that discovered these variants to be deadlier.
Though outdoors can mitigate the risk compared to indoor spaces like bars and clubs, you can’t disregard other risks. For instance, people were caught not wearing masks. Plus, the risks can multiply when you have a large crowd not practicing social distancing.
Miami Beach Police reportedly dispersed a large crowd even using pepper balls after having two officers injured. It was estimated that a crowd of more than 200 people was even blocking traffic, smoking cannabis, and drinking from open containers.
Miami-Dade County is already a COVID19 hotspot. It showed high levels of community spread even before students arrived for Spring Break. The positivity rate was at 10% and even the Mayor of Miami Beach Dan Gelber was against students traveling for Spring Break. The mayor said last month “I don’t want to be a superspreader”. He also warned them that travelers just can’t do anything they want. Gelber even pleaded with those who plan to go on Spring Break to “go somewhere else”.