College students celebrating spring break despite continuation of COVID-19 pandemic – Everett Post

BY: JULIA JACOBO, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) – Despite the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, college students continue to flock to the beaches to celebrate the spring break.

Although universities across the country have either scaled back or canceled the traditional holiday week, the Sunshine State saw an influx of traveling students over the weekend.

On Friday night, two Miami Beach police officers scattered a large crowd with pepper balls after two police officers were injured, the police department tweeted. Authorities reported cases of bottles being thrown at police and a woman driving on a car.

According to the police, 30 more people were arrested on Saturday evening.

Earlier this month, Miami Beach city manager Raul Aguila warned spring breakers not to be in the city and posted a message on tourists’ cell phones warning them of “responsible vacations”.

“If you want to party without restrictions, go somewhere else. Go to Vegas, ”said Aguila during a virtual city meeting.

On Saturday, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer advised the community to enjoy the weather while following COVID-19 safety guidelines.

In Texas, Galveston was also a spring breaker hot spot, with thousands of people flocking to the beach to soak up the warm weather, a subsidiary of ABC Corpus Christi KIII TV reported.

Texas governor Greg Abbott announced a plan Cancel mask mandates and enable businesses to be 100% busy on March 2nd.

Many Galveston people have chosen not to wear the face coverings on the beach, Fort Worth’s Kelly Roberson told KIII.

“We don’t need the government agency to come here and tell us you need a mask or that you don’t need a mask,” Roberson said.

The Traffic safety authority According to the agency, 1,357,111 passengers were examined on Friday and a further 1,223,057 passengers on Saturday.

Spring break trips last year may have fueled the spread A study by Ball State and Vanderbilt University that used GPS smartphone data to track the movement of a sample of more than 7 million U.S. college students found momentum in March 2020.

Some colleges get creative in their attempts to get students to stay in town. The University of California at Davis is Offer students $ 75 do not travel during spring break.

Other colleges, including the University of Michigan, the University of Tennessee, the University of Florida, and Baylor University, changed their calendars to in the fall Abolish spring break entirely due to the pandemic.

American behavior during March and April will be critical to preventing the virus from rising again, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said earlier this month. Walensky has warned states against this open again too early than the number of infections plateau.