Amid COVID-19 surge, Miami Beach sets curfew, bans alcohol sales at stores past 8 p.m.
Miami Beach is reimposing a citywide curfew as coronavirus cases keep shooting up.
The curfew will be from 12:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. every day, City Manager Jimmy Morales told the City Commission in an email on Wednesday. The curfew takes effect Thursday.
“This will reduce the social interaction and help police with enforcement against loitering,” Morales said. “There is nothing else to do after midnight.”
In March, the city imposed a 12 a.m. curfew for parts of South Beach, but that order was lifted June 11. Mayor Dan Gelber said the new curfew will be citywide.
The curfew order, which Morales signed Wednesday afternoon, also prohibits retail stores — from supermarket chains to neighborhood liquor stores — from selling alcohol after 8 p.m.
Miami-Dade County issued an order Tuesday night that forces restaurants with more than an eight-person capacity to close in-person dining at midnight.
Morales, who invoked a state of emergency in Miami Beach in March, wields unilateral decision-making powers as long as the state of emergency continues. His emergency orders will last through July 17 after a recent extension, city attorney Raul Aguila said.
In his email to the commission, Morales said he intends to shut down liquor stores “each night until further notice during the pandemic, in order to prevent folks from leaving the MXE [South Beach’s mixed-use entertainment district], buying bottles, and then bringing them back to the MXE or elsewhere.”
Miami-Dade’s restaurant rollback contains a carve-out for delivery and pickup functions, which may continue past midnight. Miami Beach will not allow take-out orders after midnight. Residents have noticed small crowds forming outside restaurant take-out windows in recent weeks.
The new orders come two days after city leaders expressed concern about late-night gatherings along South Beach promenade Ocean Drive. Under a county order, beaches will be closed Friday through Monday in anticipation of Fourth of July crowds. Over the long weekend, hotels will also be required to close their pools at 8 p.m., limit pool access to guests only and reduce pool deck capacity to 50%.
The closure of beaches over the holiday weekend, coupled with the ongoing closure of Ocean Drive to cars, could create enforcement issues along the promenade, Commissioner David Richardson said during a commission meeting Monday. Crowds expecting to go visit the beach may instead converge on Ocean Drive, where sidewalk cafes offer cheap drinks and loud music, he said.
“With the clubs and bars being closed, it seems to me that Ocean Drive has become an open air club,” he said. “It does seem like it has become a party town. We may be enabling that by having that road closed.”
A nightclub and hookah lounge, Voodoo, was ordered shut by the city Tuesday for violating COVID-19 rules after police responded to a chaotic scene after 1 a.m. Video taken outside the club showed people fighting and throwing furniture. The crowd dispersed after someone fired gunshots.
Gelber said he hopes the curfew can “reduce” crowds on Ocean Drive, which he said “feels like Bourbon Street at times.”
“The curfew doesn’t solve all the issues, but it certainly manages some of them,” Gelber said.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 10:48 AM.
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