Gov. Ron DeSantis spreads Miami-Dade rules from Key West to Palm Beach

Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted Monday that South Florida remain the focus of the state’s toughest restrictions on commerce and recreation by issuing a multi-county order targeting residents from Palm Beach to Key West and then fumbling on how long those rules would last.

Under pressure to issue more statewide restrictions to slow the spread of coronavirus, DeSantis used appearances in Miami Gardens and Palm Beach to tout his strategy of focusing on the region with the most discovered cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

“This codifies a common set of rules regarding ‘safer at home’ in Southeast Florida,” he said. “It gets all four counties operating under the same sheet of music.”

The DeSantis order requires Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties to conform to Miami-Dade’s existing closure rules for non-essential businesses. That’s not a significant change for the region, since DeSantis last week ordered closures of non-essential businesses in Broward and Palm Beach. But it does spread Miami-Dade’s rules to Monroe, where hotels are already closed and the Keys are closed to visitors.

The governor’s visit to Miami-Dade came as the county continued its role as a hot spot in the state, accounting for about a third of the state’s newly discovered cases on Monday. In the latest state report, Miami-Dade had 1,701 confirmed cases and four deaths. Broward has 1,137 cases and 12 deaths.

State Sen. José Javier Rodríguez said in a statement that while the regional order is welcome, the “patchwork approach will not cut it.”

“Because we remain so far behind on testing, we cannot know how far behind we also are in trying to catch up with the virus as it spreads,” the Miami Democrat said. “Counties like Lee, for example, have medical professionals urging for a safer-at-home order, reminding us why a statewide order is the best approach.”

Appearing at Hard Rock Stadium in the morning, DeSantis initially said the order would be in place through mid-May. But when he spoke to reporters in Palm Beach that afternoon, he said he misspoke and that the order would expire April 15. Like all emergency orders, this one is subject to renewal.

After initially declaring the “safer-at-home” decree would last six weeks, DeSantis said that announcement was an error and the new order would expire April 15. But, as with prior emergency orders still in place, that decree can be extended. The order uses Miami-Dade’s existing closure orders on non-essential businesses and requires Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe to adopt the same rules. Most

The duration of South Florida’s economic shutdown remained a muddle Monday as DeSantis veered from a lengthy time frame to one that seemed relatively short in two scripted public appearances in South Florida buffered by a phone call with the White House.

Speaking at Hard Rock Stadium in the morning, DeSantis announced multi-county orders requiring Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe to adopt Miami-Dade’s existing restrictions on businesses and recreation through mid-May.

The event quickly set a new six-week bar for endurance of a previously unthinkable stretch of no tourism, mass unemployment and restrictions on commerce and recreation. Hours later, though, DeSantis used an appearance in Palm Beach to announce he misspoke and that the order extended only through April 15.

The day saw Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announce the end of his high-profile quarantine for COVID-19 after 18 days. And it saw the region’s most visible hospital executive, Jackson CEO Carlos Migoya, reveal he had tested positive last week.

In a statement, Migoya said he was at home leading the public hospital system’s response to the pandemic. He said he had no symptoms and “chose to keep this private because I did not want to take any focus away from the nurses, doctors, technicians, environmental workers, food-service staff, and others who are putting themselves on the front lines of this crisis every day in order to serve our patients.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez imposed new restrictions on places where people can gather, issuing emergency decrees ordering the closure of pools and gyms in residential buildings and declaring golf courses are not open for strolling.

“You can’t use a closed golf course and make it into an open park,” Gimenez said on CBS 4. “That’s a no-no.”

Also on Monday:

• Miami-Dade suspended all building inspection services while its permitting staff remain in self-isolation following COVID-19 spread at the county building that houses the agency. Builders can use private architects and engineers for temporary certificates and permits until county staff are back on the job later this month.
• Coastal cities began implementing their own quarantine rules for visitors from New York and other states dealing with significant outbreaks of COVID-19.