CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. - Citrus County businesses say COVID-19 is not stopping people from coming to the area for scallop season.


What You Need To Know


  • Lots of pre-bookings, hotel reservations for scallop season

  • Business we spoke with is taking health and safety precautions

  • More Coronavirus headlines

Gary Bartell Jr. with River Adventure Tours says they’ve seen double the amount of pre-bookings than they had last year.

“It’s a big relief, you know, not knowing what to expect from COVID-19 and so it’s been real positive and people are still blowing our phones off the hook trying to get in,” Bartell said.

Local hotels are also still seeing plenty of bookings. We’re told some have seen cancellations, but the available rooms were quickly re-booked.

“They want to guarantee a day out in the sun, guarantee a day away from the real world being out there in that clear water and looking for scallops and just not being surrounded by people,” Bartell said.

Bartell is also taking several health precautions on his planned scallop tours such as only taking one party on a tour at a time and disinfecting the boats after each use.

Sign up now for one of our newsletters that will show up in your inbox every weekday at 1 p.m. The newsletters highlight the most important stories of the day that you need to know for your area.

Spectrum News 13 newsletter

Spectrum Bay News 9 newsletter