{"id":223231,"date":"2020-06-20T14:42:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-20T18:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=223231"},"modified":"2020-06-20T14:43:29","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T18:43:29","slug":"why-is-covid-19-queen-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/world\/usa\/why-is-covid-19-queen-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is COVID-19 queen in Florida?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Help us keep OnCuba alive here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

COVID-19<\/a> appears to be roaming free in Florida, currently the fourth state with the worst statistics. Just this Friday almost 4,000 cases were detected, about 615 more than the previous day.<\/p>\n

It is all because people seem to show a certain social indiscipline that is related to two things: local governments\u2019 low incidence on citizens and the fact that they have a way of seeing the world based on their living in the \u201cland of the free,\u201d which gives them the right to endanger the lives of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take care of myself as I understand, I don\u2019t feel sick. Nobody is sick in my house and I get together with my friends who are not sick,\u201d says Alfonso Mederos, a patron of La Carreta Restaurant on Calle 8, in the heart of Little Havana. \u201cIf I leave my house for an hour a day and don\u2019t speak to anyone, how am I going to make someone sick?\u201d asks his friend Edelsio Concepci\u00f3n. For now, Edelsio is not complying with what he says. He has spent more than an hour with Alfonso at one of the windows of La Carreta, drinking coffee and smoking a cigar.<\/p>\n

For these buddies, the most important thing is \u201cfreedom\u201d and not what the county mayor, Carlos \u00c1lvarez, says. Last Friday he returned to television warning citizens that they have no alternative but to adopt a hard line. \u201cPeople have to know that they leave us no alternative but to be tougher on those who don\u2019t wear a facemask,\u201d he said, making a slight gesture to appear more rigorous than usual.<\/p>\n

But for Alfonso and Edelsio it is as if the threat entered through one ear and came out through the other. \u201cThe mayor acts as if he\u2019s tough, but I\u2019ve never seen him wearing a facemask,\u201d says the first. He\u2019s right: the authorities don\u2019t seem to lead by example. Most of the police officers who walk the streets trying to put order seem to have abandoned the use of facemasks in recent days.<\/p>\n

About two weeks ago, authorities relaxed the measures. They recommend staying home, but it is no longer mandatory. That feeling of \u201cdoing things as they please\u201d has had a consequence: since the United States is the land of the free, the pandemic is no longer a problem. We all have the \u201cfreedom\u201d to do as we please, including ruining others\u2019 lives. \u201cThe governor isn\u2019t going to tell me what I can or can\u2019t do. We\u2019re not in Cuba,\u201d says Edelsio, who just in case doesn\u2019t allow himself to be photographed.<\/p>\n

However, he gets excited talking to the reporter. \u201cNo mayor tells me if I\u2019m going to wear a facemask or not. If he makes it obligatory, then we\u2019re heading toward a dictatorship,\u201d that\u2019s how Edelsio clearly expresses himself. His friend Alfonso doesn\u2019t speak. He barely advises him: \u201cDon\u2019t exaggerate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic is out there, it can be seen from the fact that contamination is on the rise, but people don\u2019t want to know about it. They think it\u2019s only for others, not for them,\u201d epidemiologist Jes\u00fas de Armas explains. \u201cAnd the worrying thing is that the governor himself is agreeing with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Florida, COVID-19 has surpassed 3,000 deaths and more than 82,700 cases<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n