Miami-Dade Closing Indoor Dining, Gyms as Coronavirus Cases Spike in Florida

Florida’s Miami-Dade County is suspending indoor dining services at restaurants and closing gyms and certain entertainment venues as coronavirus cases continue to spike in the Sunshine State, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez (R) announced on Monday.

The mayor is rolling back the area’s reopening process due to the increasing cases of the virus and an “uptick in hospitalizations.”

“I am signing an emergency order that will close restaurants (except for takeout and delivery services), along with ballrooms, banquet facilities, party venues, gyms and fitness centers, and short-term rentals,” Gimenez announced:

The closures will go into effect Wednesday, July 8, 2020. The mayor emphasized, however, that outdoor activities will still be permitted and said beaches are still slated to reopen Tuesday as scheduled.

“At this time, I plan to keep open various outdoor activities, including condominium and hotel pools with strict social distancing and masks rules, as well as summer camps and child daycare centers with strict capacity limits, requiring masks and social distancing of at least 6 feet,” he said, adding that “office buildings, retail stores and grooming services will remain open for now.”

Gimenez, like Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), noted that the spike in cases appears to be among the younger demographic — those 18-34:

We are still tracking the spike in the number of cases involving 18- to 34-year-olds that began in mid-June, which the County’s medical experts say was caused by a number of factors, including young people going to congested places — indoors and outside — without taking precautions such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Contributing to the positives in that age group, the doctors have told me, were graduation parties, gatherings at restaurants that turned into packed parties in violation of the rules and street protests where people could not maintain social distancing and where not everyone was wearing facial coverings.

He added that the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. countywide curfew “will remain in force with exceptions for essential workers and for people who have a religious obligation.”

Miami-Dade has reported 48,992 cases since March 1, comprising nearly a quarter of the state’s total caseload.