HOLMES BEACH – The first case of COVID-19 has been reported on Anna Maria Island and the patient is from Holmes Beach.
When the 10 a.m. coronavirus data came out April 2 from the Florida Department of Health, it showed 73 cases in Manatee County with 50 of them in Bradenton, four in Lakewood Ranch, two in Palmetto, one in Ellenton and one in Holmes Beach. There also are five cases in Longboat Key with three on the Manatee County side of the island and two on the Sarasota County side.
As of April 5, there were 135 cases of COVID-19 in Manatee County with three deaths and 28 hospitalizations, according to data from FDOH.
In Holmes Beach, Mayor Judy Titsworth has been issuing a state of the city report related to coronavirus daily for the past two weeks. Her update April 2 acknowledged the newly identified coronavirus case and reiterated her April 1 request, addressing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order 20-91 ordering all Floridians to limit their movements outside of the house to essential activities, such as grocery shopping or going to the pharmacy, or providing essential services to the community. Titsworth asked that all residents stay at home, if possible, and practice social distancing when it’s necessary for them to leave their homes.
Titsworth extended the city’s state of emergency for an additional seven days, ending on April 6 with the option to extend for another seven-day period to be re-evaluated on a weekly basis. Currently, all city offices are open but the doors of city hall remain closed to the public. The April 14 city commission meeting and work session both are canceled.
She added that the city’s beaches and boat ramps both remain closed, though people are still allowed to go to the beach in groups of 10 or less as long as they practice social distancing, leaving 10-15 feet between groups. At the end of the day on March 31, Titsworth closed all of the city’s parks including the dog park, skate park, basketball court and tennis/pickleball courts to the public to discourage groups of more than 10 people forming and encourage residents to practice social distancing, remaining at least six feet from each other to reduce the community spread of coronavirus. On April 3, she reopened the large dog park with the pavilions remaining closed to discourage socialization by pet parents. Parks and the beaches are all being monitored by Holmes Beach police officers.
She also said that city code compliance officers are monitoring the occupancy levels at Holmes Beach motels, hotels and short-term rentals on a daily basis. On March 25, she sent a letter out asking that all vacation rental owners and agents stop taking new reservations until further notice. On March 27, DeSantis suspended all vacation rental check-ins in the state for a period of 14 days.
In the April 2 report, Titsworth noted that nine out of the 20 properties checked that day by code compliance officers were found to be in violation of the city and governor’s orders and advertising mandates, still allowing for booking and check-in of guests. She said that code and police officers will be monitoring in person and online advertising to make sure that no check-ins take place at vacation rentals. Any property owners or managers found to be in violation will be cited and reported to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Titsworth’s daily updates can be found on the city’s website.
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Mayor requests temporary end to vacation rentals
Mayor discusses the state of the city
