The dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases across the U.S. has raised alarms in many states. Florida is one southern state that has been labeled a danger zone time and time again. While the governor of Florida decided to shut down the bars and the beaches before the July 4th weekend, local officials who had previously delayed their re-opening are now rolling back to their efforts to help keep the virus at bay.
And as of July 6, the list includes Miami, which is locking down again by closing businesses as coronavirus spikes. According to a statement released by Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, an increase in hospitalizations and positive COVID-19 tests contributed to a dramatic rollback.
More than 2,235,900 people have been tested for COVID-19 nationally, with a positive overall result of 9.2 percent. The results of nearly 45,000 tests were reported on Monday. More than 16,000COVID-19 hospitalizations have been reported to date in Florida.
“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,” he said. Gimenez mentioned that office buildings, retail stores, grooming services, condominium and hotel swimming pools, summer camps, and children’s daycare centers will continue to operate ‘with strict social distancing and mask rules.
He added that beaches will open on July 7, but warned, “If we see crowding and people not following the public health rules, I will be forced to close the beaches again.” All companies that are expected to close down their doors again will do so by Wednesday, July 8, “to ensure that [Miami-Dade County] hospitals continue to have the workers needed to save lives.”
Gimenez’s announcement of the new restrictions is also due to the decision of county officials to set up a nightly curfew. The orders, which went into effect on 3 July, prevent non-essential workers from leaving their homes between 10 p.m and 6 a.m.
Small business owners in the area reopened on May 16, but Miami officials announced in mid-June that they were stopping the city from re-opening and not entering the third phase. Then, on June 25, they began to mandate the use of masks in public as cases more and more cases surged.
Florida set the record for a single-day high of new cases on July 4 with almost 11,500, according to the New York Times. At least 206,500 cases of the virus have been identified in the state so far, and as of Monday afternoon, nearly 3,800 people have died. Coronavirus infections in Miami-Dade County were the highest in the state, with almost 49,000 infections and 1,050 deaths. Florida has seen such a drastic rise in COVID-19 since its initial reopening in mid-May that some analysts have gone so far as to call it the “next major epicenter” of the pandemic.
Miami-Dade County officials are hoping that the rollback and follow-up of basic health recommendations would help reduce the spread of coronavirus. “We can tamp down the spread if everyone follows the rules, wears masks, and stays at least six feet apart from others,” Gimenez said in his official statement. “I am counting on you, our 2.8 million residents, to stop the spread so that we can get back to opening our economy.”
