City to close boat ramps, Bird Key Park parking lot

The city of Sarasota is closing the Tenth Street and City Island boat ramps and the parking lot at Bird Key Park as part of the ongoing response to COVID-19.

In a news release announcing the closures, which take effect 6 a.m. Sunday, the city also asked health departments in the region to coordinate on a safer-at-home order to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus disease. Pinellas and Hillsborough counties issued safer-at-home orders earlier this week, directing residents to stay at home as much as possible with limited exceptions.

On Thursday, the city prohibited all social gatherings with ten or more people and encouraged the public to remain home except for essential activities.

The city is also asking the Florida Department of Health to share more detailed information about COVID-19 testing.

“It is essential that the state begin to immediately report COVID-19 testing on a city-by-city basis,” City Manager Tom Barwin said in the release. “The aggregated data needs to be converted into a per capita analysis, to provide the best insight and understanding possible as we seek to protect our community, particularly the elderly at-risk population, during this public health emergency. Aggregated data on a countywide basis can be misleading for smaller counties under 500,000 in population.”

As of Saturday morning, the state listed 48 positive COVID-19 cases in Sarasota County.

The Sarasota Police Department is authorized to treat violations of the emergency order closing the boat ramps and parking lot as a second-degree misdemeanor. The full text of the emergency order is available on the city’s website.

Manatee County and the town of Longboat Key closed public boat ramps on Thursday morning. 

Click here for more of the Observer’s COVID-19 coverage.