‘They deserve to be put on blast’: Social media is policing COVID-19 rule breakers
Ani Meinhold and her partner waited more than two weeks to reopen their MiMo District restaurant to make sure they could faithfully follow the new rules to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
So she couldn’t believe it when she saw videos posted on social media over the weekend of other restaurants, bars and clubs flouting the rules — partygoers shoulder to shoulder, drinking and dancing, all without masks or distance between them.
One video, shared on Twitter and Instagram, included Miami Mayor Francis Suarez posing with patrons without a mask. Miami police shut down the restaurant the next day.
“I was livid,” Meinhold said. “The fact that people were behaving irresponsibly, they deserve to be put on blast.”
Social media has stepped in to police rule breakers where governments may lag behind — public floggings that have not gone unnoticed. A new Instagram account, @covid_305, sprouted over the weekend, posting videos of restaurants, bars and hotels that appear to be ignoring the rules. Among the events shown was a party at the SLS Hotel, with a full pool ringed with partygoers dancing shoulder to shoulder.
On Saturday, three Miami restaurants were shut down as part of a crackdown after social media videos made the rounds. Among them was Wynwood’s Swan, owned by nightclub owner David Grutman, where diners, including the mayor, were pressed against each other in a full restaurant.
Swan reopened the next day.
And on Monday, mayors of several Miami-Dade cities announced new rules requiring people to wear face masks in public as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. The Florida surgeon general made the same recommendation.
“Those business owners should be fined,” said Meinhold, owner of the Vietnamese-Cajun restaurant Phuc Yea.
Restaurants fear social media shame
Businesses are rethinking the nature of hospitality in a time of coronavirus.
The SLS closed its Hyde Beach day club Sunday after the videos emerged.
“These are unprecedented times. ... We find ourselves in a position to have to police our guests, which is new and very important to us,” Simon Sorpresi, area vice president for SLS owner SBE, told the Miami Herald in a statement provided by a spokesman. “Some guests were hard to manage and not adhering, and that’s why we pulled the plug.”
No restaurant wants to end up on social media as an example of bad behavior, restaurateur Michael Schwartz said.
“Scared to death of it,” he said.
Schwartz reopened three of his restaurants, two locations of Harry’s Pizzeria and Design District flagship Michael’s Genuine, putting the onus on his staff to ensure diners are following the rules.
“We have to remind people to be vigilant,” he said. “Everyone’s done with COVID, but COVID’s not done. ... This is serious. Lives are at risk. And we need to take it seriously.”
He stands at the closed bar nightly and watches his staff hand masks to diners who arrive without them.
“Who the hell knows who’s coming through the door?” Schwartz said. “We can’t control where they’ve been, what they’ve been doing or what their appetite for safety is. We see it. Some people just don’t care.”
Nicole Gates is making it her business to make diners care at her Lil Greenhouse Grill in Overtown.
Gates has had to turn away loyal customers when the restaurant was too full. She asked a local commissioner to honor his reservation time instead of popping in early. And she endured an accusation of racism from a white guest whom she required to wear a mask before stepping inside the restaurant.
But at her family business, where her partner is the chef and her elementary school-aged son comes after school, she is taking no chances.
“We have to be bold and courageous to protect them,” Gates said. “It’s a privilege to eat in our restaurant. I’ve got to protect my staff, my diners, my family.”
Who is enforcing the rules?
Social pressure is stepping in where the law, and penalties, remain unclear.
Restaurants are not required to notify customers of a positive COVID-19 case, and the state agency charged with inspecting them has yet to post any violations or penalties for breaking new coronavirus guidelines.
The Florida Department of Business and Regulation, which inspects restaurants, has added coronavirus guidelines for its inspectors to follow, a spokesperson wrote to the Herald in an email. Restaurants can be penalized on a “case-by-case basis,” wrote Karen Smith, communications director for DBPR. But the department’s own regulations state they do not require food service employees to wear masks.
Coronavirus rule breaches have not been listed among restaurant inspection violations, and the disciplinary guidelines have not been updated to include COVID-19 infractions, according to the Florida administrative code and register.
“We also work to obtain compliance through communication and education to ensure our licensees understand how to correct and avoid future violations,” Smith wrote.
All positive COVID-19 cases must be reported to the state Department of Health, which then begins contact tracing. In Miami-Dade County, a restaurant must be sanitized according to new OSHA COVID-19 guidelines before it is allowed to reopen. Owners in the county who break the rules face a $500 fine and up to 180 days in jail.
No punishment, however, matches the bad publicity of breaking the rules, Meinhold said. She is hoping the fear of a public reckoning will be enough to force diners and restaurants to act responsibly.
“The sooner you get on board,” she said, “the sooner we can go back to being irresponsible Miamians.”
Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 4:22 PM.
