Mar-a-Lago should be shut down for flouting COVID-19 regulations, Florida lawmaker says

Mary Papenfuss
Updated

A Florida state lawmaker is calling for Mar-a-Lago to be shut down after President Donald Trump’s golf resort allowed holiday revelers to ignore regulations meant to help stem the spread of COVID-19.

Hundreds of guests without masks — including Donald Trump Jr., girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle and the president’s attorney Rudy Giuliani ― were captured in photos and on video crowding a ballroom to dance at Mar-a-Lago for a New Year’s Eve bash:

“Anybody with eyes” can see that revelers at Mar-a-Lago weren’t complying with the law, state Rep. Omari Hardy, a South Florida Democrat, said.

“They put their desire to have fun over the health of our residents,” Hardy told The Washington Post. “Imagine the most reckless thing you could possibly do, and that’s what they did. And they smiled and they laughed and they posted it on social media. They have no shame about it.”

Palm Beach County officials told the Post on Monday that they were reviewing Omari’s complaint.

“There is a mask order in place in Palm Beach County and all individuals need to be in compliance with that law,” Todd Bonlarron, assistant Palm Beach County administrator, wrote to Hardy. “We take these allegations very seriously as we do every complaint we have received regarding an individual or a business related to compliance issues.”

Florida’s COVID-19 cases leaped 26 percent last week; the state is now experiencing some 15,000 cases a day. South Florida is a hotspot for the disease.

Some 1,360,000 people in Florida have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began and more than 22,000 people have died from the disease.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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