Miami to impose minimum 10-day shutdown for businesses violating COVID-19 regulations
Update: On July 1, Miami’s city administration officially enacted the new order. Read more, including the full order, here.
Businesses within Miami city limits will face mandatory multiday closures for violating emergency measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Under a new emergency order expected to be issued Tuesday, businesses flouting rules that limit crowding and mandate the wearing of face masks could be shut down for 10 days for an initial violation, 15 days for a second offense and 30 days for a third.
Mayor Francis Suarez told the Miami Herald that the city will impose stiffer penalties on individual establishments instead of reinstituting citywide closures, a step administrators are not taking yet.
“We’re trying to be as surgical as possible,” Suarez said.
Under countywide rules, local governments can close a business for breaking the rules, but the business is allowed to quickly submit a compliance plan and reopen the next day. Mandatory extended closures, Suarez argued, would mean bigger losses of proprietors’ revenue and ensure more businesses comply.
Suarez announced the intention of the emergency order, but the order itself was not signed and released Monday. City Manager Art Noriega is expected to sign the order Tuesday.
Monday’s announcement signals another escalation in the response to mounting concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus in Miami-Dade. Last week, city officials announced a new mandate for people to wear face masks in public, with few exceptions. City commissioners authorized the use of $50 fines to enforce the mask measure. Suarez told reporters on Monday that the city has not yet issued tickets for the mask order.
Miami-Dade County also issued a new order impacting businesses on Monday. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued a new countywide order requiring restaurants and other food establishments to shut off alcohol sales on premises at midnight. Unlike his previously announced order to close beaches from July 3 to July 6, this new order restricting drink sales has no announced end date.
In recent weeks, new COVID-19 cases in Florida have increased exponentially. Just in the last 14 days, the state has reported 70,773 positive results, which represent 48% of all cases that have been recorded by the state.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has attributed the increase to young people, who he says have been going out more and socializing at a greater rate.
In Miami-Dade, the total number of people who tested positive exceeded 35,000 on Monday, according to figures from the Department of Health. In the past seven days, according to the Miami-Dade County New Normal Dashboard, the county has added 9,432 cases, which accounts for over 25% of all of the county’s recorded cases.
A large portion of the coronavirus test results are also showing positive results across the county. Miami-Dade’s goal is to keep average positive results below 10%. The average positivity rate for the last 14 days is 17.4%, according to the county dashboard.
Other measures officials have taken recently
To combat the growing numbers, Gimenez announced last week that he would send “surge’”teams to inform people about the dangers of the virus in the most affected areas.
To try to slow the spread of the virus, several counties, including Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward, and Palm Beach, announced that they will close the beaches on the holiday weekend of July 4.
Jacksonville, where the Republican convention is scheduled in August, issued an order on Monday requiring the use of masks, joining other cities in the state that already require them like Miami, Key Biscayne, Tampa and Coral Gables.
On Friday, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation suspended alcohol consumption in bars across the state, citing the increasing number of infections among young people. Bars can still sell alcoholic beverages in sealed containers for off-site consumption, and restaurants can serve alcohol for customers to consume at the tables.
This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 4:39 PM.
