Strip clubs, movie theaters start opening in Miami-Dade despite coronavirus trends
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said police would be ramping up enforcement of COVID-19 rules for reopened businesses, pointing to an increase in coronavirus case totals and a “slight uptick” in hospitalizations over the past couple of weeks.
But even as Gimenez and other local officials — including the mayors of Miami and Miami Beach — acknowledge that the novel coronavirus in South Florida may be trending in the wrong direction, the county continues to allow a wide range of businesses to reopen that have been closed since March.
That includes strip clubs, at least five of which got county approval to reopen last week after submitting safety plans. Some of their new safety measures include installing hand-sanitizing stations next to their ATMs and requiring all employees to wear masks. At some strip clubs, masks as well as gloves will be required for any performances closer than six feet.
At least three plans have been approved, according to records released by the county: ONE Gentlemen’s Club and The Body, both located in Miami, along with Booby Trap, which has Miami-Dade locations in Miami, South Miami and Doral.
At Booby Trap, all staff and customers will be subject to temperature checks and denied entry if their reading is above 100.1. At The Body, employees will be “strongly encouraged” to wear face shields, according to the safety plan. And lap dances will be allowed, according to local radio host and reporter Andy Slater.
The clubs couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday to discuss their plans in more detail. But all five have reopened, according to their websites and social media pages.
Indoor movie theaters are starting to reopen, too. On Thursday, ShowBiz Cinemas in Homestead — which features a movie theater, bowling alley, arcade and bar — opened its doors. According to a press release, the movie auditoriums will only be half-full with people sitting six feet apart, except in groups of up to five.
Bowling will be on every other lane, and the arcade and bar will have “social distancing and extreme sanitation protocols in place.”
Indoor theme parks are similarly getting the green light. One of the largest in South Florida, Dezerland Park in North Miami, got county approval Wednesday to reopen and will do so in the near future, according to the park’s attorney, Michael Pizzi. Another, Urban Air Adventure Park, was approved last week and will reopen its Kendall location Saturday.
Urban Air chief marketing officer Jessica Correa said the park’s attractions — which include trampolines, ropes courses, basketball and dodgeball — will be wiped down after each use, and staff will make sure kids are using hand sanitizer between activities. Staff members and guests won’t be allowed to enter if their temperature is 100 or above, Correa said, and staffers must wear masks. As for guests, face coverings are required — but can be removed while eating and while “jumping on attractions,” the plan says.
Reopening despite troubling trends
The continued push to reopen comes even as Miami-Dade has seen reversals in the encouraging trends for COVID-19 statistics that Gimenez cited four weeks ago, when he began undoing most of the coronavirus closures he imposed in March. Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients increased, accelerating a gradual uptick through June.
A larger portion of coronavirus test results are also coming back positive across the county. Miami-Dade’s target is to keep the two-week average for positive results below 10%. Since Saturday, only one day has seen test results fall below that mark. The 14-day average was around 9% as of Thursday.
“The last several days we have been seeing pretty consistent evidence of increased community transmission,” said Mary Jo Trepka, an epidemiologist with Florida International University. “This week, things have been not going in the right direction.”
Trepka emphasized that the risk of infection depends in large part on whether people are exposed to large doses of the novel coronavirus, a risk that increases when you’re within six feet of someone for more than 15 minutes. At movie theaters and clubs, she noted, prolonged contact might be difficult to avoid.
“People should be very cautious about going to places where there’s other people, especially if they’re gonna be within six feet of them and for a prolonged period of time,” she said.
Over the last two weeks, Florida has seen the number of new cases added to its dashboard by the Department of Health increase, often breaking records. On Thursday, 3,207 new cases were announced, more than in any other single day.
The increases can’t be explained solely by an increase in testing, according to a Miami Herald analysis of state data.
Still in the ‘yellow flag’ phase?
Gimenez said Wednesday that he does not have plans to roll back recent orders allowing businesses to reopen, including entertainment venues and theaters with approved plans.
On the one hand, the reopenings align with Miami-Dade’s recent approach on entertainment venues. The county announced June 4 that movie theaters, bowling alleys, amusement facilities, casinos and other “unique establishments” could submit safety plans and reopen once those were approved.
But the county appears to be pushing ahead of the timeline envisioned in mid-May, when Miami-Dade released its 185-page “New Normal” guidelines with help from the consulting firm McKinsey. The county agreed to pay the firm up to $568,000 for its work.
According to Gimenez, Miami-Dade is still in the third, or “yellow flag,” phase of its five-stage, color-coded reopening program outlined in the guidelines. The final two phases are green and blue, respectively. Miami-Dade’s system is separate from the one employed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has most of Florida in the second phase of a three-phase reopening plan.
“Right now we’re in yellow and we don’t anticipate going to green for some time,” Gimenez said Monday.
But many businesses have already been allowed to reopen that, under the county’s plan, were originally marked for the green or blue phases. Movie theaters, bowling alleys and arcades were all designated as “green flag” businesses, as were gyms, massage parlors and tattoo parlors. All have begun reopening this month.
The fifth and final “blue flag” phase, which signifies a return to normalcy, includes hotels — which were allowed to reopen June 1 — and casinos.
Over the past few months, some of the largest cities in Miami-Dade, including Miami, have ordered certain businesses to stay closed even after the county has given them the go-ahead. But a spokesperson for Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Wednesday that, once the county approves a business’ safety plan, the city won’t stop it from reopening.
Bars and clubs ‘problematic’
On Monday, Gimenez singled out bars and nightclubs as “really problematic” for the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“The nature of the business is you don’t stay away from each other,” he said, adding that those establishments are “still closed.”
But bars have found workarounds. Some bars and breweries were allowed to reopen May 27, as long as they already had licenses to serve food before the pandemic. They had to restrict capacity to 50% and follow CDC guidelines.
Asked why many businesses originally designated as “green” or “blue” are being allowed to open now, Deputy County Mayor Jennifer Moon told the Herald those designations were “just examples,” and that the color system was mostly intended to govern capacity restrictions and other safety guidelines. Under the present yellow phase, most businesses, including restaurants, are being asked to limit capacity to 50%.
“The color has to do with capacity and social distancing guidelines and not so much with the industries,” Moon said. “The industries were just examples. So we are yellow.”
Some nightclub owners aren’t happy about the county letting strip clubs reopen while they remain shut down. Romain Zago, owner of Mynt Lounge, told the Herald it was “inexplicable” that the county would allow strip clubs to open “where there is a natural direct physical contact between people and constant handling of cash” but not other bars and nightclubs.
“Not allowing bars to open is causing a sudden rush to bars inside restaurants,” he added.
In a video statement Wednesday, Gimenez said that, in light of the uptick in cases and hospitalizations, police will be keeping a closer eye on businesses to ensure they’re following the rules for social distancing and facial coverings.
Some people, he warned, are “getting a little too comfortable about not wearing masks.”
“If you’re a business owner and you decide that it’s not your problem, we’re gonna make it your problem,” he said. “Businesses that are not abiding by the rules will be shut down by Miami-Dade police.”
Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 2:40 PM.
