Mayors urge masks and distancing
Orlando, Orange moves come despite DeSantis’ order
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said they were caught off guard by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision on Friday to lift coronavirus restrictions on bars, restaurants and other businesses in Florida, and cautioned residents that the pandemic is far from over.
Dyer urged people to continue wearing masks and practice social distancing “irrespective of the governor’s order today.”
“I would encourage you if you see a business you don’t feel comfortable going into, don’t go in there,” he said.
His remarks, which came Friday afternoon at the 72nd briefing the county has held since the start of the pandemic in March, seemed to acknowledge that enforcement of safety measures such as limiting crowds and social distancing would largely fall to private businesses such as Publix and Walmart along with bars and restaurants.
DeSantis’ new order on Friday prohibits local governments from penalizing people for not complying with local orders and lays out conditions cities and counties must meet if they intend to limit restaurant capacity to less than 100%. But questions remain about the details.
“We’ve been put in a position this afternoon where numerous businesses have called us, and it really is not a good look for government when we’re not all on the same sheet of music, and so I just hope that the governor does better with that,” Demings said. “I
hate to be that critical in my comments, but that’s the way I feel about it so that’s what I’m telling you right now.”
County administrators, who discussed the governor’s order with County Attorney Jeffrey Newton, had not decided Friday if they would send the county’s compliance teams to check bars or other businesses — or how the teams should respond if a business owner pushed back against the local mask mandate and social-distancing guidelines by citing DeSantis’ order.
The teams have inspected more than 2,000 businesses including all the theme parks.
“We’ve always been about education and compliance assistance,” said Jon Weiss, who directs the department which supervises the three-person teams. “But if a business owner goes, ‘ What do you mean? I saw the governor’s order. You can’t make me do anything.’ What’s our answer to that?”
Neighboring Seminole County officials said they would not immediately make changes to the county’s social distancing rules and wanted county attorneys to review the matter before any decisions are made.
As DeSantis moved to lift the restrictions without giving notice to local elected leaders, the virus showed some signs of picking back up again in the community.
Dr. Raul Pino, the state’s health officer in Orange, noted slight increases in the number of people going to hospital emergency rooms to report coughs or other flu or COVID-19 symptoms.
“In the past, these things have preceded increases” in the number of coronavirus cases,” Pino said, urging people to wear masks and frequently wash their hands “independently of whatever the orders are.”
Pino said the county added 172 new COVID-19 cases, according to data received Thursday, bringing the weekly to total 447 new cases, down sharply from 840 cases last week with one more day to be counted.
The number of COVID deaths increased by 12 this week, raising the pandemic’s death toll to 444 in Orange County.
The positivity rate for the past 14 days is 4.1%.
A 2nd-grade teacher at Oak Hill Elementary School on Hiawassee Road in Orlando died Thursday with COVID-19, Pino said.
He said the teacher acquired the virus somewhere in the community, but not at school. He said it was unclear if the virus caused the teacher’s death or if there was another underlying condition.
The teacher, who was not identified by name by the Orange County School District, was an instructor with LaunchED, the district’s digital learning program and had not been on campus since mid-August.
The district notified parents through its OrangeConnect phone and text messaging program and offered in-person and virtual grief counseling for students and staff.
Officials also on Friday continued to grapple with the economic fallout of the virus.
Dyer urged members of Congress to “put partisan differences aside and work together to help our restaurants,” according to a transcript of his Friday testimony in front of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. The committee includes U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Winter Park.
Dyer said restaurateurs and business owners in Orlando need the Paycheck Protection Program to be expanded and have more flexibility as well as the Employee Retention Tax Credit, and other relief to help cover costs of masks, gloves and gear to protect employees and customers.
Dyer called Orlando “a restaurant town” as home to corporations like Darden Restaurants, Red Lobster and Ruth’s Chris, as well as diverse local options and characterized his appearance in dire terms.
“I’m here to deliver a distress call,” he said. “Our restaurants are in trouble. And, they need your help immediately.”