A healthcare worker has revealed fifteen of her friends caught coronavirus whilst visiting a bar in Florida after several months spent in lockdown, as cases spiked in the state.
The group gathered together and went to Lynch's Irish Pub in Jacksonville Beach on June 6. Three days later Erika Crisp, 40, began experiencing classic symptoms of the disease such as shortness of breath, before testing positive for Covid-19.
She has now been unwell for over a week. After several other customers also tested positive for coronavirus, the general manager closed the venue over the weekend for a deep clean, with 7 out of 49 employees testing positive.
Speaking to News4Jax, Ms Crisp said she had been adhering to social distancing guidelines and stayed inside for months, "doing everything the right way".
She said: "And then the first night we go out, Murphy's Law, I guess. The only thing we have in common is that one night at that one bar.
"I think we were careless and we went out into a public place when we should not have. And we were not wearing masks. I think we had a whole 'Out of sight, out of mind' mentality.
"The state opens back up and said everybody was fine, so we took advantage of that."
She added: "We should be wearing masks. We should be social distancing.
"It was too soon to open everything back up."
In a Facebook post, the healthcare worker also wrote: "Out of my group alone, 10 of us are now confirmed positive. 4 more tests are pending.
"I should have known better. I should have been more cautious. But alas, it is what it is."
Florida is one of twenty-two states where daily coronavirus cases are rising to record levels, with the percentage of positive tests increasing since the Sunshine State relaxed lockdown on 4 May, and officially reopened on 18 May.
For two weeks now, over 1000 coronavirus cases have been reported, with a total of 80,109 cases in Florida on Tuesday - an increase of 3.6 per cent since Monday.
Since the start of the pandemic there have been a total of 2,993 deaths in the state, but state governor Ron DeSantis continues to minimise the severity of the spread as hospitalisation and death rates remain relatively low.
