'It's not Count Dracula': Florida lawyer to sue county over coronavirus curfew

'The virus isn’t just going to come out at night; the virus is 24/7'

A Florida attorney is planning to sue Hillsborough County over a nighttime coronavirus curfew that he says is "unenforceable."

"It's not like the virus is Count Dracula or something," he said.

Attorney Patrick Leduc told WFTS News that the curfew — which lasts from 9pm to 5am — was poor judgement and unconstitutional.

"People should not just sit idly by and say, 'Oh, this is OK.' It's not OK," he said. "Our elected officials are not showing good judgement. This ordinance does not pass constitutional muster, and it must die the death it deserves."

The attorney's argument is that the additional curfew is redundant because Florida Governor Scott DeSantis' safer-at-home order has already outlawed violating the social distancing protocols enacted by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security.

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"You've already got a safer-at-home order that does all that, and now you pass a curfew that basically says do the safer-at-home order, so there's an absurdity," he said. "The virus isn't just going to come out at night; the virus is 24/7."

The curfew order was put in place in March. According to ABC Action News, the county sheriff has received 350 complaints about people gathering in large crowds, including 14 on Easter. According to the sheriff, most of the events took place in the evening.

"The only way we're going to stop this right now is to have the curfew, and the curfew has to go in place. We tried the safer-at-home, and, in many instances, it's not working. Yes, there are those abiding by what the safer-at-home says," Hillsborough County chairman Les Miller said, "But there are a lot of people out there that are not. And those ones that are not could put those that are in jeopardy."

Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa — the Hillsborough County seat — said people don't have to "get excited about the curfew" but stressed that "we all have to do our part."

"All we are saying is if you can stay at home, stay at home. That's it. Officers aren't going to be out stopping individuals unless you are gathering in large groups, and they are going to break those up. That's it. Officers aren't going to stop you; you are not going to have any kind of paperwork," she said.

Mr Leduc doesn't accept either of those explanations, instead arguing that the curfew only adds fear onto an already weary populace.

"It's a hot mess. We are crushing everybody. The people who are most hurt like this are living paycheck to paycheck. And we just did more to crush people yesterday with this curfew, and they need to knock it off," he said.