Broward could reopen Monday
Officials expect DeSantis to sign off on proposal
Broward County is planning a limited reopening of its stores and restaurants Monday, ensuring it isn’t the only region left with shuttered businesses in South Florida due to the coronavirus outbreak.
County officials say they expect Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign off on the proposal.
Bertha Henry, Broward County’s administrator, on Tuesday outlined a plan with county commissioners that calls for retail stores to open at about 25% capacity. Hair and nail salons would open Monday, too. And restaurants could allow 25% seating capacity.
But some county leaders said they feared if people don’t wear face coverings and take other precautions during openings, “we could see a spike” from more people getting the coronavirus, said Commissioner
Mark Bogen. “If the community starts believing the virus has gone away and things are back to normal, they are going to be sadly surprised.
“It’s as much here as it was two months ago.”
At least 1,008 people in South Florida have died of the new coronavirus, the state reported Tuesday, an increase of 22 over the previous 24 hours.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned a Senate committee Tuesday of “really serious” consequences of suffering, death and deeper economic damage if state and local officials lift stay-at-home orders too quickly.
He said opening too soon “could turn the clock back,” and that not only would cause “some suffering and death that could be avoided, but could even set you back on the road to try to get economic recovery.” Medical experts say the result of reopenings won’t
be known immediately because it can take as long as three weeks to show any increase in the number of infections. It takes time for individuals to infect others and for them to display symptoms.
And Dr. Christopher Murray, of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, told The Associated Press that states where cases and deaths are going up more than expected include Illinois, Arizona, Florida and California.
Most of Florida opened May 4, but the governor arranged for South Florida, with the largest number of coronavirus cases, to open more slowly for precaution. In recent days, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties solidified their plans to reopen, ahead of Broward.
Palm Beach County, which requested to be released from the regional order, began its reopening on Monday after being closed for nearly two months. Its beaches could open Monday. And Miami-Dade County is gearing up to do the same Monday.
Broward’s beaches would remain
closed. Last week, the county issued an order extending the closure to an undetermined date.
Henry warned that people can’t ignore safety precautions during the reopening. If they do, “we will be rolling back [what] we have opened up and that would be a shame,” Henry said. “Every resident has a role in this.”
The county would first need to be released from a governor’s order that allowed Florida to reopen with the exception of South Florida. Henry said she spoke to the governor early Tuesday “and [the office is] monitoring what we’re doing as a region.”
“He would have to allow us to do that,” she said. The office is “very accessible and as soon as we can speak to the things we want to do, I don’t expect there’s going to be a big problem.”
DeSantis didn’t comment about Broward’s plan on Tuesday despite efforts to reach a representative at his office.
Broward Commissioner Lamar Fisher said there has been a loud cry from the business community to reopen. Fisher said he’d like to see businesses open tomorrow.
“If they are ready, it’s their choice, not
wait till Monday,” he said after the commission meeting. “Every day that goes by, it’s get harder for these businesses to make it and come back.”
Commissioner Tim Ryan warned of an economic tragedy if businesses are forced to close a second time because of a surge in new infections. To prevent that, he warned cities to ramp up code enforcement efforts.
If Broward cities were to set their own rules for businesses to reopen, the rules could be more restrictive, but not more lenient, Henry said. Cities want sufficient time to let businesses know “what is expected of them,” she said.
Vice Mayor Steve Geller said he was concerned about reopening because the area has been able to control the infection rate from all the shutdowns. And although he expects more people to get sick, “we can’t keep the economy shut down until July.”
“We need to be guided by physicians and science.” Still, he warned, “just because businesses are reopening, it’s not back to normal.”