Without statewide shutdowns, South Florida cities beg residents to stay inside
Absent orders from Gov. Ron DeSantis, multiple local governments in Miami-Dade County on Monday told their residents to stay home as much as possible to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, allowing them only to leave their houses to exercise, get food and medicine, go to work if they have essential jobs and do other activities deemed necessary.
Following a conference call Monday with other municipalities along the county’s east coast, Miami Beach became the first city in the county to enact a stay-at-home order. As many as nine other municipalities in North Dade were expected to enact similar orders, and some, including Bal Harbour Village, Bay Harbor Islands and Surfside, had already done so by Monday night.
“By us banding together and passing something like this, it may lead the way, may spark something,” said J.C. Jimenez, the town manager for Bay Harbor Islands.
Miami Beach’s new rules, which City Manager Jimmy Morales signed Monday afternoon to take effect Tuesday, were modeled after a “Safer at Home” order enacted in the city of Los Angeles on March 19. The rules passed by Bal Harbour and Bay Harbor Islands followed the same template, but used the words “strongly urge” instead of “order.”
“People should only be outside for exercise and attending to their necessities like shopping for groceries or visiting a pharmacy,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said in a statement. “It won’t be like this forever, but for now in a community like ours this makes the most sense.”
Bal Harbour Mayor Gabriel Groisman said officials from 10 municipalities participated in a conference call Monday to discuss the language of the Beach order. Other local governments on the call included Surfside, Golden Beach, Indian Creek, Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, North Bay Village and Key Biscayne, officials said.
“It’s imperative for all residents to stay home as much as possible,” Groisman said. “It’s very telling that mayors from 10 cities today joined together on a phone call, all with the same goal, which was to find ways to encourage our residents to stay home so we can get through this crisis as quickly as possible.”
On Monday evening, North Bay Village Mayor Brent Latham said in a Facebook Live video that his village’s version of the stay-at-home measure wasn’t an order, but a “sincere” recommendation.
“This evening, along with nine other municipalities along the coastal region, we will be issuing a safe-at-home directive,” he said. “It’s not an order. It’s not anything really obligating you to do anything new, but what it is is a directive, our sincere and total recommendation, that from this point forward you stay safe in your home.”
The joint effort on the municipal level will increase pressure on Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to take similar action countywide. But Gimenez released a memo Monday throwing cold water on the idea, arguing that the city decrees mostly repackage closure orders he’s already issued for parks, entertainment options and non-essential businesses.
“While ‘shelter in place’ is the buzz phrase of the day, telling residents to actually do so could be confusing, especially for our seniors,” Gimenez wrote in a response to County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who also wants a countywide order to remain at home. “My messaging is much clearer and less panic-inducing.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis has similarly resisted calls from Florida Democrats to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, a stance he reiterated during a virtual press conference Monday. The governor suggested that stay-at-home orders were ineffective and onerous.
“You simply cannot lock down our society with no end in sight,’’ he said from his office. “And the fact of the matter is, a governor is not going to start imprisoning people just because they leave their house. So you’re going to have a lot of non-compliance.”
His position is contrary to that of a mounting number of public health experts who want him to issue a temporary, short-term, stay-home order to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
DeSantis did announce one new step Monday to try to protect Floridians from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus: He said he will require anyone on a flight from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to self-isolate for 14 days upon their arrival in Florida.
“I would reckon that given the outbreak there, that every single flight has somebody on it who is positive for COVID-19,” he said. Violating the executive order is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a fine, his spokesperson said Monday night. The order goes into effect Tuesday.
Earlier Monday, DeSantis said New York’s stay-at-home orders have resulted in a “huge amount” of New Yorkers flying to Florida. He asserted that New York’s experience is proof that trying to contain people, a recommendation of top health officials, can backfire.
“If you look at what happened in New York, when they did the stay-at-home order, what did people do?” DeSantis said Monday morning. “Well, a lot of people fled the city. ... We’re getting huge amounts of people flying in.”
DeSantis has been asking President Donald Trump, apparently unsuccessfully, to limit domestic travel. He said he spoke to the president on the topic Sunday night and more than a week ago.
“For every action, there’s a reaction,” DeSantis said. “We’re going to consider what makes sense for Florida.”
On Monday night, the Florida Department of Health announced that there were 1,227 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, including 18 coronavirus-related deaths. There were 278 positive cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County.
As case counts have spiked due to increased testing and community spread of the disease, county and local officials have continued to grapple with how best to protect residents. Miami-Dade County closed its public beaches and non-essential businesses, but some municipalities have gone further.
Key Biscayne, for example, implemented a curfew last week and then, on Sunday, announced it was closed to all non-resident visitors, with a few exceptions. Mayor Mike Davey said in a video address that the village implemented a checkpoint to enforce the ban Monday, but that it caused significant traffic. Going forward, he said, there will be a police presence at the village’s entrance but no checkpoint.
Miami Beach was the first major city in Florida to restrict business operations when it limited occupancy at restaurants and bars on March 13. Since then, the city has shut down those establishments, except for pickup and delivery, and shuttered hotels.
A curfew for all of Miami Beach from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. went into effect Tuesday.
In an open letter Monday to the people of Miami-Dade County, a group of more than 75 emergency room doctors, nurses and physician assistants urged residents to help stop what they described as a developing crisis like none they have seen before.
The letter was signed by doctors at nearly every major hospital in Miami, including Baptist Health South Florida, Jackson Memorial Hospital and Mount Sinai Medical Center. They stressed that the relatively low number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 doesn’t reflect what they’ve been seeing at their own hospitals, and that it only reflects a delay in testing.
They offered blunt advice to those who still won’t take the public health crisis seriously, urging people to avoid all unnecessary contact with anyone they aren’t currently living with.
“One of the most insidious aspects of this epidemic is that it draws strength from people’s skepticism and feeling of invulnerability,” the letter said. “If people need to personally experience COVID-19 by having a loved one or close friend infected in order to take this crisis seriously, then it will be too late and we will suffer the full brunt of this epidemic.”
Miami Herald Staff Writers Douglas Hanks, Samantha J. Gross, Mary Ellen Klas, Lawrence Mower, Ben Conarck, Michelle Marchante and Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 12:00 AM.