Moving on a new Yellow Flag Phase: Miami-Dade releases color-coded coronavirus plan

As Miami-Dade’s mayor prepares to allow most businesses to reopen Monday, he unveiled a color-coded system designed to help the public track the county’s restrictions designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

For the moment, Miami-Dade sits in the “Orange Flag Phase,” the designation in the guide that allows parks, marinas and open spaces to be open “with facial covering requirements in place.” Gimenez said he plans to shift Miami-Dade to the “Yellow Flag Phase” on Monday, a category that allows the reopening of a broad list of businesses that includes restaurants, but under restrictions on capacity, spacing and sanitation measures.

“Working together, we have been successful in largely protecting our community from the health impacts of the pandemic,” Gimenez wrote in an introduction to the plan. “Now it is time for us to join together to reverse the economic impacts our community has been suffering.”

Gimenez said health metrics so far justify lifting restrictions that were mostly imposed in March. Despite an uptick in recent days tied to nursing-home outbreaks, the number of patients in county hospitals with COVID-19 has dropped from peaks and a larger portion of people are testing negative for the virus.

How Miami-Dade’s coronavirus flags work

For consumers, next week promises to be even more complicated as large cities across the county announce their own timetables for allowing businesses to reopen and the rules they’ll have to follow within municipal limits. While cities must adhere to county emergency rules, they’re free to impose stricter regulations.

The plan released Wednesday includes some detailed draft rules that highlight how difficult it will be for businesses to fully recover after two months of closures, and the different world that awaits consumers when they choose to return to favorite establishments.

For shops, customers and workers must be turned away if capacity inside hits 50 percent. Miami-Dade hopes to have the same ceiling for restaurants, but needs clearance from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who imposed a 25-percent cap in a statewide reopening order April 29 that currently exempts Broward and Miami-Dade. At a Doral press conference Thursday, DeSantis he had approved the reopening plans from Broward and Miami-Dade. Broward Mayor Dale Holness said that included a 50-percent capacity cap for restaurants.

COVID-19 rules for barber shops, hair salons in Miami-Dade

For hair salons and barber shops, customers must wait outside until a chair opens up inside. Businesses must eliminate the use of water fountains, and clean bathrooms and elevators every two to three hours. Visitors and employees in office buildings are required to wear masks “while in the building,” the rules said.

Though not mandatory, the plan also encourages staggered breaks for employees to avoid crowding in common areas. The plan also encourages employers to provide safe transportation if employees can’t get to work without being crowded with others .

The planned rules state restaurant tables may seat only four people, or six if they’re from the same household. Restaurants don’t have to conduct fever checks, but their workers must take their temperatures before arriving to work and stay home if it’s at 99.5 degrees or above.

The rules have been drafted with a group of mostly business executives, along with health professionals and government administrators. They’ve been meeting privately and reporting to Gimenez.

In a press release, Gimenez said most businesses would open under the plan that targets Monday, May 18, for easing existing county closure orders.. Among the businesses that would remain closed: bowling alleys, breweries, gyms, movie theaters, and nightclubs, along with pools inside businesses and in residential complexes. Gimenez also said beaches and hotels won’t reopen next week.

The published “New Normal” plan does not specify what medical statistics will govern shifting from one flag to the next. The details within the plan don’t always mesh with Gimenez’s public comments on the rules he plans to lift in time for a May 18 reopening.

The plan lists retailers as being part of the Green Phase reopening, a more permissive step that would follow the Yellow phase. But in interviews, Gimenez has said he plans to lift restrictions on non-essential stores on Monday and allow them to reopen, as would barber shops and beauty salons. Those businesses, listed under the “grooming” umbrella, also are part of the Green Flag phase in the plan Gimenez’s office released Wednesday.

During a virtual press conference, Gimenez confirmed those businesses listed as part of the Green phase are part of the reopening plan Monday. He said the draft plan has some details that will change by the time Gimenez issues that actual decree allowing businesses to reopen. “They’ll be more clear once we issue the order,” he said. “We have to wait for the governor.”

There are five colors in the new plan, with the most severe being Red. That’s described as the most stringent phase, and ended when Gimenez lifted orders closing parks, marinas and golf courses in late April. The less stringent is Blue, when all businesses are open and the public is encouraged to continue the practice of social distancing and using face coverings. The Blue phase is described as the “New Normal” being in place.

Gimenez has said the county hired the McKinsey consulting firm to publish a reopening plan for Miami-Dade that would make it easier for the public to understand the county’s rules. Gimenez’s office has not released the contract with the firm, which was also hired by New York to draft a recovery plan from the COVID-19 crisis.

This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 4:50 PM.