“What is happening in Florida with spring break partying-on by students oblivious to the epidemiological implications of their actions is nothing short of tragic,” wrote Gregg Gonsalves, a professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, in an email. “While many of us have been hunkering down to try to break the chains of infection in our communities, these young people have decided the pleasures of the moment are worth bringing back the coronavirus to their friends and family.”

Justin Lessler, a professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the crush of swimsuit-clad students consuming large amounts of alcohol could create so-called “super-spreading events” that worsen the pandemic.

People eat at a restaurant on March 17 in Miami Beach, Florida. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

“The students who are going and partying at spring break potentially are feeding into a world where they are stuck in their houses for weeks on end later on,” he said. “So I think they should keep that in mind."

There is some precedent for resort communities being slow to wake up to epidemics. The Austrian village of Ischgl, an Alpine ski destination and party hotspot, was slow to close down its establishments even as other nations issued travel warnings of potential coronavirus exposure. Thousands of revelers returning from vacations in Ischgl spread infections across much of Scandinavia. On Tuesday, Norway said 40 percent of its then-1,400 infections were traced to Ischgl.

The outbreak has prompted accusations that authorities there acted too slowly out of a fear of harming the local tourist economy.

Unlike other states, Florida did not initially impose strict controls on crowds and left it up to local officials to take action.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered bars and nightclubs to close for 30 days and directed restaurants to cut their seating capacity by half. That same day he said that beaches could remain open but that groups of more than 10 people would not be allowed in one place.

The edict wasn’t enforced. Aerial pictures of hundreds of thousands of beachgoers hit the national airwaves and shocked people in other states where even major thoroughfares were empty.

Forced to explain his decision, DeSantis said he did not want to do a statewide order because there were places where the virus had not yet spread. People were on “edge,” he said, and he wanted them to be able to go outside.

“Younger people have more social interactions. There’s more transmission amongst them. Most people are infectious before they are symptomatic.” Hansel Tookes, public-health physician at University of Miami’s medical school

Some local officials stepped in. Those in Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Naples and Clearwater moved to shut their beaches down.

On Friday, DeSantis ordered restaurants to shut their doors, except for takeout and delivery. He told gyms to shutter and closed the beaches and other “non-essential” businesses in Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach at the urging of local officials. This action came a day after Miami officials closed many businesses.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told POLITICO on Friday that the city is finally getting spring breakers to leave after a month of revelry. Gelber ordered beaches shut on Thursday, and posted photos of the empty sandscape on Facebook on Friday.

Hotels will “substantially close” by Monday evening, Gelber announced in a late-Friday tweet.

Gelber predicted the measures would reduce the transmission of coronavirus but, at this point, he didn’t know how much. Florida spring break went on for weeks before anyone took action, when the virus seemed less threatening.

“This is about risk management,” Gelber said. “It might have been too late a month ago, frankly.”

Miami Beach spokesperson Melissa Berthier said there have been no confirmed spring break coronavirus cases reported in the city.

But Hansel Tookes, a public-health physician specializing in infectious diseases at University of Miami’s medical school, said no one knows how much the coronavirus has spread among spring breakers because of a lack of testing. Had there been enough tests, the students could have gone to clinics, and the sick ones could have isolated themselves in Florida before going home.

“If there was testing, they could be isolated in say, a hotel or a place where they could remain alone until they were no longer infectious,” he said. “Younger people have more social interactions. There’s more transmission amongst them. Most people are infectious before they are symptomatic.”