Health officials say the Gulf Coast’s beloved ‘Redneck Riviera’ – full of packed bars, beaches, restaurants and stores – has become a COVID-19 hotspot.
Towns in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi have seen cases of the virus skyrocket by as much as 2,300 percent with hospitals running out of beds to take care of patients.
Meanwhile, tourists and servers alike dance atop tables and people sunbathe mere feet from each other.
Experts believe the spike is due to a combination of some of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, unabated tourism, a disregard for basic health precautions and the region’s carefree lifestyle,
These factors are all coming together at a time when the mutated virus is more contagious than ever and conservative states are balking at new health restrictions.
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The Gulf Coast’s ‘Redneck Riviera’ has turned into the nation’s latest COVID-19 vaccine hotspots. Pictured: Customers dance inside The Hangout, a popular restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama, August 12
Towns in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi have seen cases increase by as much as than 2,300% since early July but restaurants and beaches remain crowded: Beachgoers are shown on the coast at Gulf Shores, August 12
In Baldwin County, Alabama – where Gulf Shores is located – cases have risen from about 15 per day in early July to about 370 per day, an increase of 2,366 percent, with a test positivity rate of 29 percent
However, on a recent afternoon, mini-golf courses, bars, go-kart tracks, hotels and condominium towers were full
The National Shrimp Festival, which draws as many as 250,000 people to the Alabama coast, is set for October despite the COVID-19 explosion.
Inside The Hangout restaurant, where dancing on tables is encouraged, the song Cotton Eye Joe received a raucous reception from the largely unmasked customers.
The revelry came as just 12 miles to the north, South Baldwin Regional Medical Center was treating more than three dozen COVID-19 patients, nearly 90 percent of whom weren’t vaccinated, said spokesperson Taylor Lewis.
‘After Memorial Day it was: “Everything is back to normal, go to the beach, take off your mask,”‘ said Dr Bert Eichold, the chief public health official of Mobile County, just west of Gulf Shores.
In Mobile County, the COVID-19 positivity rate has skyrocketed to nearly 30 percent, and the county has the most new cases in the state with nearly 600 per day.
Cases in Alabama have risen from 200 per day in early July to more than 4,400 in mid-August and in Gulf Shores, cases have increased from about 15 per day to 370 per day, an increase of 2,366%, over the same time period
In Florida, infections have spiked from 10,000 per day to more than 25,000 per day in mid-August. In Escambia County, where Pensacola is located, cases have skyrocketed by 36% from 1,630 cases in the week ending August 1 to 2,217 in the week ending August 12
Lisa Hastings, a Louisiana native and nurse visiting the Alabama coast with her two sisters, looked at the situation in two ways.
She was a little unsettled by the wide-open scene from a professional standpoint, but she also doesn’t hold it against anyone who wants to get out and have fun, vaccinated or not.
‘I think people are kind of over being afraid and so they’ve got to live their lives,’ said Hastings, who is vaccinated.
Nearby, a tourist from Illinois railed that the pandemic is fake and vaccinations are just another method of government control.
Meanwhile, in nearby Florida, cases are also surging.
COVID-19 infections in Escambia County, where Pensacola is located, have skyrocketed by 36 percent from 1,630 cases in the week ending August 1 to 2,217 in the week ending August 12, state data show.
At The Dock, a beachfront restaurant that serves cold beer and seafood beside the public beach in Pensacola, Florida, manager Justin Smith said the tourist season has been busy and his staff has managed to stay healthy, at least so far.
Americans like Lisa Hastings (center) say they are worried about the lack of precautions but explain that people are ‘over being afraid.’ Pictured: Hastings sits with sisters Roxie Mire (left), and Anna Barras (right) while visiting Gulf Shores, August 12
Many Americans in these counties have decided not to get vaccinated due to conspiracy theories that ‘vaccinations are just another method of government control’
More people are getting initial vaccine doses than a few weeks ago, but it hasn´t been enough so far to stop the spread of COVID-19. Pictured: A worker from USA Health prepares to vaccinate a person for COVID-19 during a drive-up clinic in Mobile, Alabama, August 12
While more vaccinations could help, Smith said he’d never require his staff to get inoculated.
‘I’ve been here 18 years. It ain’t gonna happen,’ he said.
Outbreaks caused by the coronavirus are threatening to overwhelm the region’s health care system and traditions.
Hospital executives joined together in Pensacola last week to plead for more vaccinations while also knocking down false rumors about vaccines and masks.
In an area dominated by Christian conservatives, Mayor Grover C. Robinson IV made a direct appeal for churchgoers to get shots.
‘Two of our hospitals are Christian affiliated,’ he said.
‘One of the first things it says all throughout the Bible is: “Do not be afraid.”‘
More people are getting initial vaccine doses than a few weeks ago, but it hasn´t been enough so far to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Of 11 coastal counties in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, Okaloosa County in Florida has the region’s highest share of fully vaccinated residents at 41.3 percent, statistics show.
Many are around one-third, and all are below the national average of nearly 51%.
Natalie Fox, a nursing executive with USA Health in Mobile, said medical workers are tired after more than a year of fighting the pandemic. Still, people sick with COVID-19 – the vast majority of them unvaccinated – keep arriving.
‘We’re kind of getting patients from all over because everybody’s dealing with this increased strain,’ she said.
It didn’t take a mandate for Rhonda Landrum, a 50-year-old health care worker from near Mobile, to get a shot recently after watching all three of her unvaccinated daughters contract COVID-19.
People aren’t taking the pandemic seriously, she said, and it’s just not safe to be out in public without the vaccine.
‘I won’t travel nowhere. I stay home,’ she said.
Source link : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-9907463/Gulf-Coasts-beloved-Redneck-Riviera-virus-hotspot.html
