Doctors: Art show could become COVID-19 hot spot
Officials asked to cancel Lal Olas Art Show, which attracts thousands
A group of doctors are raising concern that COVID-19 could turn this weekend’s Las Olas Art Show into a superspreader event, and theywant Broward County and the city of Fort Lauderdale to call it off.
The doctors, headed by retired dermatologist Joe Arena, are asking government officials to cancel the show out of concern that it will spread the virus.
Theshow, which is scheduled to run this coming weekend, typically attracts thousands of people to downtownFort Lauderdale, but organizers say they will follow strict coronavirus guidelines this year and require patrons towear masks.
In a letter to the city and county, Arena, whois retired froma dermatology practice in Plantation, joined nine other area doctors saying they are worried about crowds spreading illness in the Las Olas neighborhood, where most of the physicians reside.
“It would be potentially devastating for Fort Lauderdale to have a huge moving assemblage of people confined within the narrow space of Las O las Boulevard and then further confined within the even more limited spaces of the booths,” the letter says. “Still air and heat is always a possibility especially as theday goes on. This scenario creates high chance of a “super spread er” event. Other locales around the country have cancelled virtually all like activities including Art Basel Miami .”
Besides Art Basel, other major area events canceled this year included the2020 TortugaMusic Festival in Fort Lauderdale and the Fort Lauderdale Winter fest Boat Parade in December.
Arena referred questions about the doctors’ concerns to community activist StanEichelbaum, whose newly created Fort Lauderdale Alliance for Good Government also is urging the county and city to halt the show.
“I think right now there are many efforts to mitigate the safety features which were not examined,” EichelbaumsaidWednesday. “Did anybody really go deep in the city or the county about the safety issues?”
He cited the recent decision by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to fully reopenbars and restaurants around the state and lift fines for not wearing masks.
“The show is promoting that everybody will bewearing masks,” Eichelbaum said. “But masks are not enforceable” andbusinesses can’t be fined for failing to require them, he added.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said the county is in charge of permitting events and that the only action taken by the city on the art fair is allowing street closures.
But he said the event’s organizers have taken steps to ensure safety. “They have established a number of [health] protocols,” the mayor said. “Admission will be charged, which will allow them to restrict
the number of people that will be in attendance at any point at time at the art show.”
The art fair is among a number of events planned for South Florida, with one of the largest — the annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show — still set to kick off later this month. The Fort Lauderdale Air Show, whichwas postponed in the spring, is nowscheduled to take place in late November. On its website, the sponsors listed 11 safety
measures designed deflectCOVID-19.
Marty Cassini, manager of Broward County’s Intergovernmental Affairs/ Boards Section, said Tuesday there are a number of precautions being taken by the art fair, such as the wearing of masks and the absence of food and beverage concessions.
“Wewant to have people wear face coverings as a requirement to be there, as well as social distancing.” he said. He also said the county
to
expects the art fair visitors to be in a specific area for any eating and drinking “where they arenot spreading germs through the air.”
Other measures include electronic ticketing, limited capacity, a single entry and exit point and “a one-way circulation pattern around the fair” for pedestrians.
“What we really do is try to examine from the planning perspective all of these things to ensurewe’re going to have the best outcome,” Cassini said.