Despite the high numbers of COVID-19, the number of tourists returning to Miami is growing

#Miami is experiencing one of the worst moments of the COVID-19 pandemic, with record numbers of infections and hospitalizations. The state of #Florida has reported an average of between 8 and 10 thousand cases daily throughout #December. #And another 12,075 were confirmed #Tuesday, bringing the number of positives to nearly 1.3 million since #March.

#Most of them have taken place in #Miami-Dade, the most densely populated county in the southern state, where the 293 thousand infected have already been exceeded, with 2,825 new cases confirmed yesterday.

#However, the high numbers do not seem to intimidate tourists, who after months without seeing each other in the city, seem to have returned in significant numbers to #Miami.

#Tourism is the main industry in #South #Florida, so its virtual paralysis during the pandemic has left a visible impact on the region. #But with the arrival of the end of the year holidays, when most of the #United #States is in freezing temperatures, #Miami’s heat seems to have been attractive to many.

#First, for the first time since #March, the streets register significant levels of traffic. The highways are loaded with cars at all hours and finding a place to park on the streets has once again been an impossible task, especially in tourist areas such as #Miami #Beach, #Brickell, #Wynwood or the #Design #District.

#But it is not just a perception. There are hard numbers that confirm the trend. The #Miami airport has received an average of 68 thousand passengers per day in the week of #December 24 to 27, with a record last #Sunday of 84 thousand in one day. The numbers are well above the average of 40,000 passengers a day seen during the previous months. #And the flow continues to grow. #Even without the numbers for the last week of the year, it is expected that every day this end of #December will see similar numbers.

The hotel industry, which has been so damaged by the pandemic, is getting a break. The latest data available from the #Miami tourism bureau and its beaches indicate that The week of #December 19 was the week with the highest hotel occupancy since the beginning of the pandemic. #Those numbers are expected to be surpassed by those of the last two weeks of #December, although the numbers are still a third of what they were in #Miami in #December 2019.

#While tourists are more than welcome in a comatose economy, authorities ask for caution when leaving. #Florida, by order of #Governor #Ron #DeSantis, does not have strict rules for those who want to leave their homes, but in #Miami-Dade the authorities continue to require the use of masks and social distance, to the point that restaurants that do not comply with the distance between tables are exposed to a temporary closure. #In addition, the county maintains a midnight curfew, which only extends to 1 a.m. for the night of #December 31, anticipating that many people will want to party.

#In turn, the CDC (#Centers for #Disease #Control, for its acronym in #English) maintains its recommendation to avoid traveling this season.

“The safest way to celebrate the winter holidays is at home, with those who live with us. #Travel and meetings with family and friends with whom we do not share a home increase the risk of contracting or transmitting COVID-19 and the flu, ”says the official CDC website.

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