JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Georgia is re-opening some businesses, and now many in Jacksonville say it’s time for Florida to do the same.
A “Freedom Rally” took place in front of the Duval County courthouse Tuesday afternoon, drawing nearly 100 protesters.
“I want everybody to have their jobs back. All jobs are essential,” Nikole Maddox of Jacksonville told First Coast News. “There is a 98 percent recovery rate,” she said of coronavirus, “and 22 million unemployment.”
Maddox, who said her business selling micro-greens as an urban farmer has been affected, was worried particularly about what she said statewide shutdowns have done to small businesses.
“People are out of work, people are losing their homes, people are hungry,” she said. “The food bank lines are out of this world.”
Maddox had plenty of company. Jeffery Blackburn, also from Jacksonville, pointed farther north than Georgia.
“New York can stay closed as long as they want. Florida -- no need to,” he asserted, saying that the number of coronavirus deaths since the crisis first arrived in Duval County is comparable to any random similar timeframe.
Asked whether he thinks safety restrictions should accompany a re-opening in Florida, Blackburn said, “Limitations as of what, wearing a mask? Six feet away? None of that.”
Rally organizer Rachel Hanes said the demand to re-open is less about the economy than about principle.
“It’s more the fact that the shutdown is actually unconstitutional,” she contested. “It’s not the government’s place to tell people where they can go, when they can go there … we see this as a dangerous precedent for the future.”
As for whether she agrees with Blackburn’s dismissal of safety restrictions, Hanes replied, “I do think that a small business owner would be highly motivated to take care of their customers, and again, doesn’t need the government to mandate whether they can be in business or not.”
The rally came about 24 hours after Georgia governor Brian Kemp announced the staggered re-opening of some businesses – restaurant dining rooms, gyms, movie theaters, and salons among the examples – later this week and early next week.
Asked whether Florida should feel pressure from the Georgia re-openings, Hanes said “I hope it will,” adding that “Freedom Rally” might be holding more similar events, eyeing one possibly in Ponte Vedra during the upcoming weekend.
For his part, Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry said in a Tuesday press conference that he wants Jacksonville back to work as much as anyone, but that health and safety are top priorities.
“Georgia has their protocols in place,” the mayor said. “I can’t speak to that… we’re under a statewide safer at home order. The governor wants to get us back to work, I do as well.”