[Advogado]

Sumter County is home to the world's largest retirement community. Because of its elderly population, Sumter County is undoubtedly the Florida county that is most vulnerable with respect to the new wave of the COVID-19 virus. Fortunately, most residents are following the advice of the experts and wearing a mask in public places. Unfortunately, however, there are still a number of residents who are not-- either because of ignorance or selfishness or both. These people are endangering not only themselves (which, frankly, doesn't particularly bother me), but they are endangering everybody else as well (which does bother me).

In Sumter County, we recently elected a new slate of County Commissioners-- the EMS team of Estep, Miller, and Search. They have pledged to represent the residents, and not special interests. I personally know all three of the team members, and I did what I could to help them get elected. They are good guys-- smart, honest, intelligent, and experienced.

Here is hoping that the EMS team, who now constitute a majority of the Commissioners, will have both the foresight and the political courage to confront the COVID-19 crisis by following the lead of a number of other Florida counties and enacting an ordinance mandating a mask for anyone in a public building or at a public gathering. Who knows, maybe the other two Commissioners, who are generally described as “the Developer's puppets”, would support such an ordinance. After all, if The Villages becomes a COVID hotspot, it will put a crimp in the Developer's sale of new houses.

Many Florida counties and municipalities have enacted mask mandates. However, any ordinance adopted in Sumter County will have to be carefully drafted in light of Governor DeSantis's inane order suspending “collection of fines and penalties associated with COVID-19 enforced upon individuals.” Note that enforcement against businesses is not suspended; so businesses that don't require masks could be fined. Likewise, the enactment of mandatory-mask ordinances is not banned; so Sumter County could enact a mandate, with the fines and penalties “suspended”. That is, there are ways to attack the problem despite the DeSantis order.

In summary: COVID19 is the most serious problem facing Sumter County today. Let us hope that our Commissioners save lives by enacting an appropriate face-mask ordinance-- before it is too late!