After months of quarantine, Americans are finally breaking free from their homes this Memorial Day weekend, despite the potential consequences of sparking a second coronavirus wave. The battle between staying sane while cooped up in a home for months versus the ongoing pandemic is a challenging situation to balance. While some are venturing outside in absolute horror, others are putting their party face on and disregarding local public health orders.
Thousands of vacationers, few with masks and ignoring social distancing rules, flocked to Ocean City, Maryland for Memorial Day weekend. This comes as COVID-19 cases in the state topped 45,000, with the number of people hospitalized leveling off in the past several weeks.
On Saturday, WJZ-TV’s Mike Hellgren documented dense crowds wandering the boardwalk, many of whom were wearing no masks nor had any intention of staying six feet apart from one another.
Reuters snapped a picture, also showing large crowds packed on the lower end of the boardwalk — very few people were wearing masks.
Like we noted in “Hawaii Arrests ‘Rogue Tourists’ In COVID Contagion Crackdown,” some Ocean City residents have become upset that vacationers are invading their town this holiday season with a complete disregard to local public health orders.
Here’s what one local tweeted: Jennifer Parker: “I live in Ocean City, MD. I haven’t left my home in nine weeks other than grocery shopping, and these people flock down here without a care in the world. Shocking!”
Last week, we showed how one bar in the beach town was gearing up for when restaurants and bars reopen. They ordered a bunch of social distancing bumper tables for patrons.
And according to some on Twitter, Ocean City, Maryland wasn’t the only vacation area packed with people ignoring social distancing. Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri was very crowded as well.
No mask, no problem, party time in the Ozarks