Hialeah is postponing ‘every city event’ in March due to coronavirus fears

Hialeah on Thursday became the first Miami-Dade County municipality to take sweeping measures in response to fears about the spread of coronavirus, canceling all city-run events even without any confirmed cases in the area.

The city announced on Twitter just before 1 p.m. that it was postponing “every city event” in March until further notice, intended “as a precaution to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

The decision was made Thursday by city administrators, according to City Councilman Oscar De La Rosa. There was no vote by the council approving it, but he said he supports the move.

“We know that, as a preventative measure, we wanted to eliminate any large gatherings,” De La Rosa told the Miami Herald.

The first event affected is an art exhibit opening scheduled for Tuesday evening. The exhibit, called “Women: A Collective Art Exhibition Celebrating the Woman,” was scheduled to have an opening reception at Hialeah’s Milander Center for Arts and Entertainment at 7 p.m.

De La Rosa said he believes Hialeah’s decision pertains only to city-sponsored events, though he wasn’t sure if that would include government meetings.

A representative for the county elections department said the city had not contacted the department and that early voting at the John F. Kennedy Library in Hialeah will continue through March 15 as planned.

The 305 Day Block Party in Hialeah’s Leah Arts District, scheduled for Saturday, would also not be affected because it is not run by the city, De La Rosa said. JennyLee Molina, the event’s founder, confirmed Thursday that the event is still on.

A representative for Mayor Carlos Hernández said he was not immediately available for comment. Hernández was one of dozens of municipal mayors and administrators who attended a closed-door meeting Thursday afternoon with County Mayor Carlos Gimenez about efforts to respond to coronavirus concerns.

According to other officials who attended the meeting, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said there is so far “no imminent threat” in Miami-Dade County. The officials discussed a recent decision to postpone the Ultra Music Festival in Miami, but they were told that it isn’t necessary to cancel smaller-scale events.

“There’s really no cause to suspend city events of the scope that we would have in our village,” Brent Latham, the mayor of North Bay Village, told the Herald.

For now, Latham said the officials were told, residents should go about their daily lives but stay home if they feel sick, particularly with a fever. That advice came from an official with the Florida Department of Health, he said.

“We would certainly err on the side of caution in terms of canceling public events,” Latham said. “We’re not there today.”

There have been four confirmed cases of coronavirus across Florida, none of which have been in Miami-Dade County.

This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 5:16 PM.