All swimming pools at The Villages, Florida largest retirement mecca packed with Trump-loving baby boomers, were forced to close this week because residents refused to obey rules about social distancing.
According to The Village-News.com, the local recreation department posted rules stating that no more than 10 people were allowed in a pool at once over concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. However, boomers gonna boomer, and the public pools remained packed, which then forced Florida’s Friendliest Hometown to shut 'em all down.
From The Village-News:
Villages-News.com did some spot checking at pools Wednesday and found 39 people, including many children, at the Churchill Family Pool. The Ashland Pool had 24 people, including children. The pool at the Village of Fenney was packed on Tuesday. Residents complained there was no enforcement or monitoring of the 10 participant recommendation.
Pools aren’t the only things closed in The Villages. The Sumter County retirement community has also ceased all music celebrations at town squares, church gatherings have been canceled, and local movie theaters have also closed.
On a very related note, a recent poll released this week from NPR and PBS Newshour found that less than 40% of Republicans in the U.S. currently view the coronavirus as a real threat, which is troubling since the case numbers are only growing and the virus is extremely dangerous for people over 65.
As of right now, there are 10,755 cases of COVID-19 in the United States, with 390 of those being in Florida.
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This article appears in Mar 19-26, 2020.