Miami Beach issues $14,400 in COVID-19 face-mask fines

One man took his mask off to answer his phone. Another walked alone on a quiet street with a bare face. The third kept his mask nearby outside a Lincoln Road restaurant while he examined its menu.

They were all deemed to be in violation of a Miami Beach order requiring the use of facial coverings to limit the spread of COVID-19, even when outdoors and socially distanced. They were each fined $50.

The city has issued $14,400 in fines since July 23, the first day when city employees and police began ticketing alleged violators. Of the 288 people fined, only four have paid their fines as of Monday, according to a city spokeswoman. Violators have 30 days to pay the fines, and the fines cannot be appealed to the city, she said. Failure to pay “would potentially subject” the violator to an additional fine of up to $500 and a criminal misdemeanor charge of violating an executive order, which can carry up to 60 days in jail, the spokeswoman said.

Body-camera footage from Miami Beach Code Compliance, obtained by the Miami Herald, captured three stops from July 23 and offers a glimpse into how the city enforces its order. The “inspections” mostly began the same way, with a code officer taking a photo of the alleged violator and then confronting him to ask for ID to write the ticket.

“I had no idea,” said one man to an officer, who approached him as he walked alone on Bay Road about 1:30 p.m. “I mean there’s tons of people walking around with no masks.”

“Seriously? I took it off for a second because someone called me on my phone — and then I put it back on,” a man walking alone on Lincoln Road told the code officer who stopped him.

In one instance, a code officer threatened to call the police if a man did not provide his ID. The man, a tourist from Louisiana, stopped outside Havana 1957 on Lincoln Road to read the restaurant’s menu. He was not wearing his mask and said he did not know masks were required at all times.

As other guests walked along the South Beach promenade without masks on, the man asked that the code officer apply the law consistently. “I understand when I sit down or if I walk into a building, I’ll have it to put it on,” he said. “I didn’t know you needed it [outdoors].”

The city’s mandate is nearly identical to an order issued by

Miami-Dade County on July 16 that comes with a $100 fine. The rules provide exceptions for children younger than 2, individuals with respiratory issues or those involved in “strenuous physical activity.”

Miami-Dade police have issued 225 citations to date.

The use of face masks has become the subject of political debate, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends them as a barrier preventing the unfettered exchange of respiratory droplets between people when they speak loudly, cough or sneeze. They are especially important, the CDC advises, when social distancing cannot be observed.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, whose frequent cable news appearances have made him among Florida’s most visible government officials during the pandemic, said in a public video address Friday that the recent decreases in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Miami-Dade should not imply that countermeasures are no longer required.

“Just wear the damn mask,” he said. “It’s not a political statement. It’s a statement that you care enough to make this very modest sacrifice.”