By re-opening the local beaches, Mayor Lenny Curry triggered a lot of liberal snowflakes, but it was the right thing to do.

The simple action made national news. It also spawned what appeared to be fake photos of jammed beaches and anger from the left.

It simply illustrates the national divide between those who support total government control during the Chinese virus pandemic and those who do not.

The Daily Mail headlined the opening of local beaches, quoting Curry as saying people “misunderstand our city” and noting that Jacksonville had, at that point, only about 3 percent of the cases of virus in Florida.

The local beaches now are open from 6 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. for walking, swimming, surfing and fishing. Groups of more than 10, and sunbathing and beach parties are prohibited.

‘With our curve flattening, this was a very measured opportunity to open more space out there,’ Curry told a local TV station.

But some of the comments to the Daily Mail story were vicious and a number of them carried a “Florida Moron” hashtag, suggesting it was a coordinated response.

One person commented “Thousands more will die,” but another said “One of the best places you can be is outdoors.”

Typical of the liberal responses was “America, land of idiots.”

For thousands of Jacksonville residents who have lost their jobs or businesses and have been homebound for weeks, the opportunity to get out into the sunshine and exercise again seems like a risk worth taking, if it is a risk.

All of life, including driving to work every day, entails risk.

Shutting down a $20 trillion economy in the most prosperous nation on Earth appears to a lot of people like drastic overkill, while to control-freak liberals who yearn for a totalitarian state, it does not seem to be enough.

Curry has made a number of blunders lately but from here it looks like a limited re-opening of the beaches was the right call, at the right time.