#FloridaMorons Trends on Twitter as Beaches Open

This weekend the number one hashtag on Twitter was #FloridaMorons.

The reason for the tag was the proliferation of people congregating on the beaches north of Jacksonville after Duval and St. Johns Counties, along with the city of Mexico Beach gave an all-clear for limited hours on beaches intended to give people the opportunity to get fresh air and exercise. Beaches will be open for limited times and people are not allowed to sit on the sand or sunbathe but rather are to keep moving and maintain social distance.

However, many bloggers and reporters saw numerous examples of people playing volleyball and very few people reported or posted photographs where even one person could be seen wearing a facemask.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry defended himself on Twitter stating, “We need methodical steps to open our cities. Shutting down cities indefinitely is not an option. National media has responsibility here. I’m gonna lead a step by step way forward. Governors and mayors will do the same. National media please think responsibly before u publish,” while he retweeted a post by the New York Times stating, “As soon as the clock ticked past 5 p.m. on Friday — signaling the limited reopening of beaches in Jacksonville, Florida — people flocked to the shoreline in droves, despite concerns about spreading the coronavirus further https://nyti.ms/3eqZDKe.”

The Mayor retweeted scores of other posts over the weekend from people who said that beach goers were not congregating and were social distancing according to the rules.