Uncommon Knowledge
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Florida
Ron DeSantis stops Florida beaches closing amid “fecal pollution” warnings
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has vetoed a bill that would have given the state the power to close beaches if tests show water does not reach the state’s health standards.
DeSantis made the call this week, despite Floridians being warned against swimming due to “fecal pollution” just two months ago.
If the bill had gone through, local authorities of beach waters and public bathing places would have had to notify the Department of Health whenever testing water was below recommended health standards.
The Department of Health then “shall require the closure of beach waters and public bathing places that fail to meet the department’s standards if it deems closure is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public,” the bill read.
But Desantis wrote in his veto letter that the bill “suffers from a fatal infirmity” as it “grants authority to the Florida Department of Health (DOH) to close beaches, waterways, and swimming pools.”
AP
He said: “Health Departments like DOH can serve a valuable function, but they should not be vested with the power to supersede local jurisdictions regarding the operation of beaches.
“I have made water quality and protecting Florida’s natural resources a priority and my Administration will continue to do so, but this grant of power to DOH over Florida beaches is ill-advised.”
On June 13, the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County Healthy Beaches program issued health advisories for Dubois Park, Sandoway-Delray Beach and South Inlet Park.
Sampling showed bacterial levels to be more than 71 colonies per milliliter of marine water, putting the beaches’ results in the “poor” category.
Anything that is seen as “poor” should be “considered a potential health risk to the bathing public,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
At the end of April, the same department told residents not to swim at several beaches, including Midtown Beach and Dubois Park, in Jupiter.
Water in these two areas had tested positive for high levels of enterococcus bacteria, which the department said “is an indication of fecal pollution.”
It added that this may “come from stormwater runoff, pets and wildlife, and human sewage” and could put swimmers at an “increased risk of illness,”
In both spots, water was recorded as “poor”, meaning it measured 71 or greater enterococci per 100 milliliters of marine water.
Infections from enterococci “are typically not considered harmful to humans, but their presence in the environment may indicate that other disease-causing agents such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoa [a microorganic parasite] may also be present,” according to the EPA.
Newsweek contacted DeSantis’ press office, via its email address, for comment on this context and was directed to his veto letter.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Tharin White, Lead Publisher at EYNTK.info and Drew Smith, Drew the Disney Dude join FOX 35’s Garrett Wymer live via Zoom to showcase the World Cup celebrations at LegoLand Florida, plus the Electric Ocean show taking off at SeaWorld Orlando.
FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – A 21-year-old Fernandina Beach man is dead following a crash on State Road A1A in Nassau County Thursday night.
The Florida Highway Patrol responded to the scene at South Fletcher Avenue and Askins Avenue around 9:30 p.m.
According to FHP, the motorcyclist was traveling northbound on S. Fletcher Ave. when he struck an unoccupied sport utility vehicle that was stopped perpendicular to the roadway in the northbound lane. Troopers say the SUV’s driver had exited the vehicle to unhitch a trailer at the time of the crash.
The front of the motorcycle collided with the left side of the SUV. The motorcyclist was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, according to the report.
FHP pronounced the motorcycle rider dead at the scene. The SUV driver was not injured.
The crash remains under investigation.
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
Florida health officials are pushing back at quarantine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius exposed to the deadly Andes hantavirus.
One American who was on the cruise ship says she’s stuck in the middle and unable to leave federal quarantine.
“I’m being held hostage in this power struggle between a state and the federal government,” said Angela Perryman, 47, who has been at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s National Quarantine Unit since May 11.
“I don’t think there has been a day since I’ve been here that I didn’t cry,” she said.
Perryman said that health officials previously told passengers that they would be able to leave federal quarantine by the end of May and spend the rest of their 42-day quarantine under home supervision. The first five went home June 1.
Like all Americans aboard the cruise ship, Perryman has tested negative for the Andes virus.
States were required by the CDC to station law enforcement or public health employees outside the homes of quarantined passengers for surveillance.
It was up to state health departments to figure out how to accomplish that for passengers who chose to go home.
Florida health officials, it appears, have a different approach.
“At this time, neither the state of Florida nor the Department is planning to implement round-the-clock surveillance measures,” Brian Wright, a spokesman for the Florida Health Department, said in an email. “The state does not believe unnecessarily intrusive restrictions are warranted when established public health practices can effectively protect both public health and personal freedom.”
The agency, which didn’t provide an official response, has named Dr. David Fitter to lead its response under the temporary leadership of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who has criticized the CDC’s restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Perryman, a Florida native, is one of 18 Americans who were on the Hondius when the rare hantavirus outbreak struck in May. They were taken to the Nebraska unit, where some of the first Covid patients who’d been aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in early 2020, as well as several Ebola patients in 2014, were treated.
As of Thursday, 10 of the Hondius passengers have left the federal facility and are now under surveillance in their home states, until the end of the virus’s full 42-day quarantine period, set to end June 22, a University of Nebraska Medical Center spokesperson confirmed.
The passengers’ trips home were coordinated by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, as well as local and state health departments.
“The individuals did not travel commercially, and appropriate biocontainment measures were in place during their transport,” the medical center said in a statement.
Eight passengers, including Perryman, remain in Nebraska. The only other passenger still in Nebraska who has spoken publicly about the ordeal is Jake Rosmarin, who’s posted about his time in quarantine on Instagram.
Generally, the virus is spread from rodents to people. The Andes strain is the only one known to spread from person to person.
The World Health Organization confirmed 13 cases of Andes virus associated with the cruise ship, and three people have died. None of the Americans have developed symptoms.
That fatality rate — 23% — is one of the reasons health officials have been particularly focused on keeping any potential for viral spread contained. And the incubation period is exceptionally long. It can take up to six weeks for symptoms of hantavirus to appear.
Perryman said that all she wants to do is walk into her yard and take photos of birds and bugs.
“I want to go home,” she said, “and stay in my house and have no contact with anyone.”
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