As many of you well know, COVID 19 is impacting our world at the moment. Currently, in the United States, New York State is ground zero for this deadly outbreak. Over 1,000 people have lost their lives to COVID 19 in New York City alone, and the situation is just getting worse from there. According to the Florida Health Department, the state has 6,955 cases, and 87 deaths. Of that number, 170 cases and 8 deaths are in Pinellas County. This was as of 04.01.2020.
On 04.01.2020, being within social distance guidelines and following the safer-at-home rules that the State of Florida and County of Pinellas have in place, I got in my car with my mom, and drove around the county to document our findings. Beaches are closed, restaurants only allowing takeout, beach towns deserted or very less populated, and hotels and nonessential businesses closed.
Below is a gallery of photos from the beaches of Pass-a-Grille in St Pete Beach, and Rockaway Beach in Clearwater, two very popular tourist destinations where I live. All photos are mine, taken on my iPhone 11, with automatic settings.
Photo 1: Pass-a-Grille Main Beach between 9th and 10th Avenue, dead due to COVID-19. Beaches have been closed in Pinellas County since March 20th.
Photo 2: Paradise Grill at Pass-a-Grille Main Beach, shut down due the outbreak.
Photo 3: Seating area at the Paradise Grill completely empty.
Photo 4: Beach access at 10th Ave in Pass-a-Grille with a barricade put up by the County of Pinellas Commission Board and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Photo 5: The very popular Don CeSar pink hotel on St Pete Beach dead and the parking lot nearly empty during the outbreak. The hotel is usually very popular around Spring Break time.
Photo 6: Popular Rockaway Beach in North Clearwater Beach, shut down and clear as day. Clearwater Beach, from Sand Key Park in South Beach to Rockaway Beach in North Beach, is extremely busy from March to late April for Spring Break.
© Dylan Pawlina, 2020. All rights reserved. Reposting is ok with approval from the author.