FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — The oldest hotel in Lee County is the first to make a bold move, of temporarily closing it’s doors to combat the spread of Coronavirus. Silver Sands Villas office manager Sandra Collins says they have to do their part.
“We need to get everybody home where they belong, hunker down for the 14 days, whatever this is going to take. The longer we stretch this out we feel, the longer it’s going to last”, Sandra Collins, Office Manager for the Silver Sands Villas.
It was a tough decision economically, but they know it was right.
“Right now it’s not about dollars and cents, it’s about saving lives, and what’s more important saving lives or your bank account”, said Collins.
Collins says they are hoping that other hotels, and businesses follow suit.
“We’re all still going to be here, we’re all still going to have our businesses, this is not a permanent shut down. It has to start somewhere and just get everybody home”, said Collins.
Silver sands is working with guests to ensure their travels back home are safe, and secure, one family told me they are more than pleased with the decision
“ I think it’s setting the tone, part of the reason I think made it easier decision for them is that they have had so many cancellations, since last weekend. So it got to the point where there are only a few guest left”, said Casey Duzinski.
The emptiness of the city will be hard to get used to, but the Duzinski say, if we do our part it will all be back to normal.
“Seeing the island die down has been very unique, I’ve never seen it this quiet”, hopefully this irradiates very soon, and everyone is safe and sound, that’s the main concern here”, said Duzinski.
