Winter Party Festival Covid-19 Infections

Posted on by Thor

The Winter Party Festival took place in Miami Beach March 4 – 10, 2020. More than 10,000 men gathered to party for the week despite the Center for Disease Control’s recommendation at that time that gatherings should be limited to no more than 250 people. Now, two people have died, and at least 38 others have
tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. Once the party was over, people
flew home to all corners of the country, possibly spreading the virus far and
wide. Some people chose not to attend the event although event
organizers were not offering them refunds. Precautions at the Winter Party included “educational posters”
that were posted at venues and 10,000 bottles of hand sanitizer placed throughout.

On March 1, 2020, Florida became the third state in the United States with a documented Covid-19 case.
On March 9, 2020, Donald Trump tweeted that the Fake News Media and the
Democratic Party were inflaming the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond
what the facts would
warrant.  Governor Ron DeSantis was dragging his feet about closing Florida beaches as spring breakers descended on the state. The Mayor of Miami had already contracted the virus. A week after the festival was over, Miami Beach announced they were finally closing the beaches.

On March 15, a Boston doctor who had attended the Winter Party tested positive for the virus after returning home. Thousands of e-mails were sent out to attendees to let people know of the spread of the virus. It is impossible to prove that the people infected caught the virus at the festival. With the long incubation period, they might have caught it on the plane or elsewhere, but were most certainly contagious carriers at party time.

Israel Carrera, a 40 year old from North Miami, was the first to die of the virus after attending the Winter Party. The second was Ron Rich, a 65 year old volunteer who did not attend the main party which counted 3,000 in attendance.

Davie Police Chief, Dale Engle, was placed on administrative leave
after officers at his Florida station filed a union complaint alleging
that he dismissed their concerns about Covid-19 protection measures
and that he blamed the Covid-19 fatality of a Broward County Deputy Sheriff, Shannon Bennett, on his sexuality. He claimed that Bennett died because he was a “homosexual who attended homosexual events.” The National Fraternal Order of Police tweeted that, if Engle’s “disgusting” alleged remarks are true, he should be fired.

On March 4, 2020, I was at a press event at the Rep Theater about the future onePULSE Memorial and Museum. It wasn’t an overly crowded event, but I was still going to theaters and sketching. On March 10, 2020, I was sketching at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s sold-out 12th Annual John R. Hamilton Mock Trial. I therefore can confirm that public events were still being staged in the Sunshine State. Though concerned, I felt it was impotent to keep documenting the arts. Information about the virus and circumstances were changing rapidly by the hour at the time. Hindsight might make it easy to judge, but I was still sketching in crowds despite concerns and the conflicting information from officials.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Trump used a prime-time oval office address to announce a ban on travel for non-Americans from most of Europe. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finally instated stricter social distancing on March 12, 2020, which was two days after the Winter Party Festival was over.

It is unknown exactly how many people might have contracted the Covid-19 virus at the Winter Party Festival. Rea Carey, the Executive Director of the LGBT Task Force, which organized the Festival said on Instagram, “I am deeply saddened by the death of Israel Carrera. I
extend my care and condolences to his loved ones, his friends and
family. He was so clearly loved by many. The particular cruelty of this
virus, this pandemic, is our inability to be together in grief, to hold
each other and to care for each other. We hold Israel and everyone being
affected by COVID-19 in our hearts.”

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article241133076.html#storylink=cpy

Pulse Temporary Memorial Dedication

Posted on by Thor

The interim memorial design was created by the team of by Kody Smith, Christina Hite, and Greg Bryla, of the landscape architecture firm of Dix.Hite + Partners, and David Stone of Phil Kean Design, all of who worked closely with onePULSE Foundation’s memorial task force. Pam Schwartz of the Orange County Regional History Center worked on supplying the hundreds of photos from the history museum’s collection used on a winding wall that surrounds the club. Many of local photographer J.D. Casto‘s photos cover the wall. He was at the GLBT Center on the morning following the shooting and his photos document the outpouring of love and support that followed this horrible tragedy.

The scene was already crowded when I arrived at the club. Families of victims and survivors were seated. Since I had my own artist stool, I set up in front of one of the new trees on site and started to sketch. I focused on Christina Hite while she spoke at the podium. Greg Bryla is a dedicated Urban Sketcher, so I was pleased to know he had a hand in helping design this temporary memorial. An unexpected aspect of the temporary memorial is that there is a window in the surrounding wall allowing visitors to see the spot where the club was breached by the swat team so that the hostages held in the bathrooms could escape. Bullet holes litter the brickwork around the blast hole. This is where the terrorist was finally killed.

The architect firm of Coldefy and Associés has recently won the deign competition to create a permanent memorial at this site. Their design surrounds the Pulse Nightclub building with a pool and fountain that has 49 colors in concentric circles radiating from the pool’s center. The typical rainbow, (ROYGBIV) only has 7 colors. If you multiply that by 7 you get 49 colors. Another aspect of their design that I like is a circular canopy that supplies shade for anyone visiting the site. They also had elegantly incorporated a wall separating the quiet space from the sound of traffic on Orange Avenue. The most striking feature is that the club is cleaved in half, creating a canyon like space that people can walk through. 49 trees will cover the site creating a garden to celebrate life.

The Pulse Museum design looks a bit like a futuristic reactor. It has a slatted white exterior that is squeezed in the middle with an undulating
roof profile. Glimpses inside show a twisting staircase and plants,
echoing features of the memorial, and a large circular opening that
floods natural light into the space. There are large public areas where the community can gather to learn and have events. It is an exciting design that would immediately become a defining landmark of the SODO area. Green spaces radiate from the club beautifying the district. Only time will tell how much of this amazing design will become reality. The Museum and Memorial are both intended to open in 2022.