Thousands come out to Charlotte County beaches on first day back open

Thousands come out to Charlotte County beaches on first day back open

DISTRICT.FIRE OFFICIALS SAY BOTH FIRESARE NOW CONTAINED.TONIGHT, WE’RE GETTING A VIVIDPICTURE OF WHY GETTING A VIVIDPICTURE OF WHY THERE’SCONTROVERSY OVER RE-OPENINGSOUTHWEST FLORIDA BEACHES.SHORTLY AFTER RE-OPENING TODAY,CHARLOTTE COUNTY BEACHES FILLEDUP WITH WAY MORE PEOPLE THANCOUNTY COMMISSIONERS HADANITICPATED.AND TONIGHT, COUNTY LEADERSTELL 4 I YOUR CORNER’S ROB MANCHTHERE’S ONE THING TO BLAME FORTHOSE CROWDS.HE’S IN ENGLEWOOD BEACH TOEXPLAIN.

ROB?(:33 - :36)(:55 - 1:00)(1:08 - 1:12)(1:16 - 1:20)INTRO:As you can see, lots of peopleare excited to finally be backout at the beaches today.But the crowds ended up beinglarger than expected, becausejust north of here in Sarasota,they didn’t open the parkinglots.So a lot of people packed uptheir beach umbrellas, andheaded south.PKG:Bob Wilson, Came Down FromSarasota:"We came down here because wecould go to the beach, and wecould park our car."Bob Wilson and Sheryl Simonswere two of the many people whodrove down from Sarasota Countyto enjoy the beach after monthsof isolation.Bob Wilson, Came Down FromSarasota:"If Sarasota was open, it wouldtake a lot of these people andspread them out even furtherapart, which would help us all."But Sarasota isn’t open, meaningEnglewood Beach was packed.Bill Truex, Commission Chair:"Unfortunately I wasanticipating something similarto this when I learned thatSarasota County was not going toopen their parking lots."Commission Chair Bill Truex saysthe county is doing its best tostill keep people safe.Bill Truex, Commission Chair:"We again need people to remindthemselves to socially separate,continue to use hand-sanitizer,and again folks, if you’re notcomfortable coming out here,don’t come out."But talk to the people out onthe beach, and the virus is thelast thing on their mind.Debra Youngblood, Lives NearbyEnglewood Beach:"I haven’t been worried at all.I’m not a worrier.

I’ve watchedthe numbers and they don’t scareme."Sheryl Simons, Came Down FromSarasota:"I’m pretty darn sure there’sno germs down here at all."Moving forward, Truex saysthey’re going to continue tomonitor the crowds, but he alsorecognizes having this manypeople in one place during apandemic is controversial."I know there’s people thatdon’t agree with us openingbeaches up, don’t agree withbusinesses getting back to work,but I tell you, as we do thisand we implement this, if you’reafraid, stay home."TAG:But a lot of people aren’tstaying home, and that could bea problem for Charlotte Countymoving forward, because theystill haven’t opened bathroomsup yet.Truex tells me the county needsto get staff in place to