Broward County ramps up enforcement for businesses that don’t follow COVID-19 rules
Broward County issued a new emergency order Wednesday that will force businesses to temporarily shut down if they’re found violating laws related to social distancing and facial coverings, with county leaders warning that compliance must improve as novel coronavirus cases continue to spike across Florida.
Effective Friday, businesses that aren’t compliant must close for 24 hours — mirroring a rule in Miami-Dade County that prompted the closure of three businesses this past weekend — and may be subject to a $500 fine. Businesses can reopen once they submit a letter to the county explaining the changes they’ve made under penalty of perjury, and then will be subject to another inspection within five days. If they’re caught breaking the rules again, the fine will be $15,000.
“We know that social distancing and wearing a face covering works,” Broward County Mayor Dale Holness said Wednesday at a press conference outside the Broward Sheriff’s Office in Fort Lauderdale, where he was joined by the mayors of nine cities across the county.
Holness said the county’s earlier orders that shuttered businesses and kept people in their homes as COVID-19 moved throughout South Florida were successful in slowing the spread of the deadly virus. Those orders were “not sustainable,” he said, but he noted that if current trends continue, hospitals may become overrun with patients.
“If we have to go backwards, we will have to,” Holness said of the potential to bring back stricter closures of businesses that have been allowed to reopen in recent weeks. “We must do everything we can to protect ourselves and each other so that we can stay healthy and somehow maintain the economy.”
State health officials reported a new single-day record of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday with 5,508, eclipsing the previous record of 4,049 on Saturday. Broward County reported 473 cases and one death, bringing its totals to 12,217 known cases — a little less than half as many as Miami-Dade — and 378 deaths from the disease.
Under current emergency orders in Broward, restaurants and other businesses are allowed to operate at 50% capacity. Since April 10, people have also been mandated to wear masks when they visit businesses if they are directly interacting with employees.
But it appears many businesses aren’t following or enforcing those rules. About 10 days ago, Broward County opened a 311 hotline to field calls from the public about businesses defying sanitation, social distancing and mask orders. So far, the county has received 891 complaints, Holness said Wednesday.
According to a breakdown of those complaints, 105 warnings and eight citations have been issued, and more than 100 non-compliant businesses have not yet been allowed to reopen. Another 250 cases were “not substantiated,” while 475 are still pending inspections.
The county’s data also highlight the most common violations: 284 businesses weren’t following social distancing requirements; 194 weren’t meeting sanitation standards; and 66 were allowing more than 50% indoor capacity.
Kimberly Maroe, a county spokeswoman, told the Miami Herald that the data, including the names of businesses in violation, would likely be posted on the county website in the coming days.
Holness said a common problem has been bars and clubs, which aren’t allowed to open, “pretending” to be restaurants. “Restaurants are not bars,” he said. “Bars are not open.”
Holness said the new emergency order, which was signed Wednesday by County Administrator Bertha Henry but goes into effect Friday, will be carried out by a combination of code enforcement officers and the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Municipalities with their own code and law enforcement departments can also enforce it.
“It just hasn’t been enough,” Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said of the county’s efforts so far to ensure compliance. “The county has elected to put forth further restrictions and be more punitive, in the sense that you must comply. We can’t afford to continue to have this type of spread here in the county.”
On Tuesday, the city of Fort Lauderdale announced that its code officers had shut down nine restaurants on Las Olas Boulevard and along the A1A corridor over the weekend, forcing them to remain closed for 24 hours until violations were addressed.
“There have been extremely large crowds with few people wearing masks,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said in a statement. “Together, we can bring COVID-19 back under control and ensure our economy is restored.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 1:56 PM.
