How does The Villages look for snowbirds this coming COVID season?
 

Since I am a snowbird and have limited insight into what is happening in The Villages now and for the rest of the fall,

I was wondering what is open in The Villages?

Are people taking precautions?

In that I mean, are people wearing masks regularly?

Are people distancing themselves?

Has there been much of an outbreak over the summer?

Any word as to future plans for the rec centers?

Any word as to club meetings and such?

Any rules regarding the pools?

Any rules regarding exercise classes?

I guess I have a lot of questions. But, I am really debating whether it is wise to come to The Villages this season. Rentals are expensive and I can only watch so many reruns of "Leave it to Beaver" as I did last spring.

Thanks for any insights!

I'd like to know as well
 

My husband and I are planning to retire to our home in Fenney at the end of this year. I too was curious as to the changes in place and what activities are available. I read about the closing of Too Jays in Spanish Springs and wondered how many places will follow.

Looking forward to coming down to the Villages permanently. Right now we are on Long Island and it's so weird . Used to be when you left the house you only had to worry if you had your wallet and car keys. Now it's wallet, car keys and mask!

Thanks!

pools are open, rec centers and nightly dancing at the squares and movie houses are not operating.

Golf never stopped

if clubs are meeting it is not happening in the rec centers yet...as there is a limitation on how many can gather there
The Sharon and The Savannah Center are currently closed, but booking entertainment out in the future

just about everything else is open...some with restrictions

masks and social distancing is the norm...there are few that try to resist, but for the most part retail stores and professional buildings require a mask upon entry

there are rumors that the nightly dancing will begin in early October, but nothing official has been announced, so it's still wait and see

there are fewer numbers of new covid-19 cases in Sumter country than there are in Marion and Lake...both of which have a large population outside of TV

welcome back

My wife read online somewhere (so take it with a grain of salt) that the squares are going to be opening back up in early October. If so, that could go a long ways towards making things seem normal.

I'm on the board of a social club (The Village Birders) and I know we haven't been told when we'll be able to hold "in person" meetings in the rec centers or what limitations there will have to be once we can.

The majority of people I see wear masks when they are remotely close to one another in public spaces. There are a few who feel that wearing a mask somehow impinges on their God-given right to be communicable disease spreaders, but this area is hardly unique in that regard.

Most restaurants are back open with some seating restrictions but, sadly, a few didn't survive and there may be more to come. The movie theaters opened briefly with only older movies, then shut back down. The performing arts centers have yet to announce when shows will be performing.

Some but not all pool activities are available at the sports pools and you can use the smaller neighborhood and family pools. Golf, if anything, is more popular than ever. Pickleball seems to be going full bore. People never stopped bicycling and some number of additional people took it up.

If you leave The Villages for traditional Florida activities, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The theme parks all seem to be open but with much smaller numbers of customers allowed, masks required and social distancing enforced. My wife and I went to Universal Studios last week and are heading to Islands of Adventure tomorrow. We felt safe and liked the much smaller crowds. Some beaches have been closed for holidays to keep the herds of idiots from crowding in but there are a LOT of beaches in Florida that are open.

So it's not 100% like it once was and maybe it won't be for quite a while. However, it seems to be a lot more "normal" than a lot of areas (think New York City) and I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be during all this.

Have you seen pictures of what the Florida beaches look like practicing social distance ? No difference here in my opinion.

Thanks!
 

I appreciate you taking the time to give an update. I just wish I could get down there BEFORE the cold weather hits but I don't have a choice right now.

Thanks again and stay safe!! :pray:

Guess you haven't kept yourself uptodate on what's happening in The Villages, but expect us to bring you up to speed? If you're so afraid of being inconvenienced or contaminated, stay away. And, by the way, if you decide to come, from wherever you live now, self-isolate for 10 days to protect the rest of us permanent full-time residents.

The Villages Sept 23 - No masks No social distancing - but they are outside


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Some answers
 

With FL going to Phase 3 I expect nearly everything to be open eventually, some with extra Covid precautions. The announcement only suggests avoiding crowds, not applying any hard limits. Groups, restaurants and even the Villages are digesting the announcement, so I expect updates. You can get on the Villages email list and they send out a weekly bulletin. The Daily Sun also reports on any changes. Before this announcement the squares were planning on reopening, but you had to get a ticket so they could control the crowd size. Not sure if they will drop this requirement.

Not everyone taking precautions or wearing a mask. Many retailers require masks, so people will don them as they enter. Even then I think not everyone is following the rules and retailers are reluctant to confront you about a mask. Not enough compliance for my tastes, so I am not going into any stores unless there is no other options. We get groceries delivered. Any retail purchase I use the drive up delivery option, nearly all big stores have something like this set up. Ace Hardware, Office Max and the like. But this is a personal choice, your personal level of paranoia. In my opinion this is sad that people won't due their duty to help stop this virus, but I have the ability to hide out.

Stores will have spots marked on the floor to space you out at the checkout. When I have been inside somewhere everyone was using them to distance. Restaurants now can operate at full capacity, before there was good spacing I hear. Some restaurants have said they will still operate at lower capacity for the short term. Another one had a few tables set aside for people wanting spacing but the rest of the restaurant is at capacity. You would have to call or stop by and ask since each restaurant can do what they want.

Sumter County has reported a low number of cases, relative to other surrounding counties. Still it appears there were about 1000 cases in the Villages according to **************. The state does not single out who are Villagers or not. I think us old people are wary as we fit the category of people likely to die from this disease.

The Rec centers are allowing groups to come back and have meetings (even before Phase 3 announcement). There are capacity limits (again Phase 3 re-opening just announced might change this) but some smaller groups are meeting again, since their entire attendance is below capacity limits for the room. The rooms are being cleaned after use. You can't move around furniture yourself, staff has to set up the room for you and move it after you are done. No entertainment or having a play in the rec center rooms. The Sharon is reopening with social distancing (again have not seen any announcements due to Phase 3).

The pools have been open for quite a bit. They removed furniture around the pool to help limit crowd, so they had capacity limits. You walk around the pool in a one-way direction so you don't cross paths with others. When done with your pool lounge chair you fold the top over to signal to staff for it to be cleaned. If the pool is full you have to wait in a line (markings on the ground for social distancing) and a staff member will tell you when the chair has been cleaned.

The Villages gyms are just reopening, and they were going to have social distancing. Gyms were not specifically mentioned in the phase 3 announcement. I don't know much about this topic.

Hope this helps.

I wanted to update my post. The online news web site, that gets censored when I type in the name in my posts, is reporting 620 cases of Covid in the Villages, not the 1000 I mentioned.

Hmmmmm having a bad day
 

. I don’t think

This is the age of the internet. All of your questions are easily answered by just looking in the right places.

I think what these two nice folks meant to say is they happily anticipate your returning to The Villages for the winter season and hope you have a wonderful time. They would love to share their views of what is, or is about to happen here, but think you would be better served by accessing online resources. At any rate good luck in your quest neighbor.

OP, go to the Daily Sun website and the villa__ - News.___ website for recent articles on what is proposed for the newly announced phase 3 practices. Way too much info to retype here.

I just wanted to thank all of you for providing more information on the situation in the Villages. Just as a matter of clarification, I have researched other sources such as the Sun and the Villages News. The Sun, as we all know, gives great information on rec events in the Villages but, in my opinion, it kind of glosses over some things. Its like reading the news from the good ship lollipop! It has a positive, upbeat viewpoint which reflects the Villages. It is what I have felt about the Villages and the people who live there (whether year round or seasonal). The Village News presents a more granular image of the surrounding community, especially about those who have fallen into the traps of poverty and drug usage. That newspaper presents an assortment of mug shots that would make any post office proud.

But, and this is what I want to thank you for. The best information comes from the residents of the Villages. You are the ones who can present the true image. I thank you for the time and effort you put into responding to my need for additional information. You are the type of people I would love to invite over for a cup of tea and good conversation. You are the true Villagers.

Thank you!