Nearliy all of Florida's beach communities continue to go it alone in deciding whether to close their sandy shores to guard against the spread of coronavirus as the governor has refused to issue a statewide order to close them.
The Florida Keys in the south will close to visitors, but at the other end of the state, Panama City Beach's chamber of commerce declared Thursday that beaches there aren't closed and the town is "open for business."
The mishmash of local orders on Florida beaches comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis -- at the height of spring break rush -- said Tuesday that he would not order the beaches closed, although he did limit parties on beaches to 10 people per group.
On Friday, DeSantis followed that up with an executive order closing beaches and certain other businesses in two counties, Broward and Palm Beach, deemed to be at particular risk for the spread of coronavirus. The other businesses include movie theaters, concert houses and fitness studios.
