Broward plan has capacity and distancing rules
County could start to reopen as soon as Monday
New rules for Broward’s reopening would ensure that salons, restaurants and stores limit their number of customers or get fined for their practices.
A draft of the county’s plan to reopen, obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday, gives the public their first glimpse at the safety rules that stores and restaurants must follow.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that the county will learn “very soon” if businesses can partially reopen as early as Monday. The announcement could come even Thursday, said a county official with knowledge of the discussions.
Here’s what you can expect to see.
Restaurants
Employers must ensure that employees wash their hands and use facial coverings. This includes the staff members who have contact with customers and the employees who handle food.
Food preparers are encouraged to wear gloves while handling food. Employees with symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, cough, or shortness of breath, will be immediately sent home.
All tables and chairs, whether indoor or outdoor, should be at least 6 feet apart between parties; and bar counters should remain closed.
Groups will need to be capped at 10 people, and hand sanitizer has to be “readily available.”
The restaurants should provide disposable menus or digital menus that are sanitized after each use. Touchless payment options are encouraged.
Restaurants would have to provide physical guides, such as tape on floors or sidewalks, to ensure that customers remain at least 6 feet apart when standing in line. Customers must wait
in their cars or away from the establishment while waiting for a table or to pick up food.
If possible, patrons should be alerted by personal cellphone when their table or food is ready to avoid the use of buzzers.
Buffets and salad bars must remain closed. Self-service drink stations must be washed and sanitized frequently. Lemons, unwrapped utensils, and unwrapped straws must be removed from drink stations.
Stores
Stores should limit the number of customers inside a store at a given time, excluding employees and third-party delivery companies, to a maximum of 25% maximum occupancy.
Food courts in shopping malls must have at least 6 feet between tables.
The rules require that stores establish one-way aisles and traffic patterns for social distancing and not allow self-serve products, like perfume testers, to limit customer contact with retail products before purchasing.
The rules prohibit the use of reusable bags since “reusable bags may carry
COVID-19.”
Salons, barbershops and other ‘personal services’
Services must be provided by appointment only, and scheduled with 15 minutes between appointments to allow time for proper disinfecting of the area.
Customers waiting for appointments are encouraged to wait outside and practice social distancing.
Unless there are walls between work stations and chairs, customers ought to stay 6 feet apart.
Businesses will need to remove all books, magazines, or any shared material for customers. After each customer, everything should be sanitized including equipment, instruments, smocks, linens, and the work area. Hand sanitizers must be placed at the entrance and customers must sanitize their hands upon entering.
Pools and gyms in housing developments
Already multi-family developments, such as condos, were able to open their pools, and now they’d be able to open community rooms, fitness centers and gyms.
Groups of people cannot be larger than 10.
This does not extend to commercial gyms, which will remain closed.
Museums
Museums and their gift shops are capped at 25% maximum occupancy. The plan prohibits interactive features or exhibits including child play areas.
Other businesses
The draft plan allows for “professional services and other businesses located in multi-business office buildings in Broward County [to] continue normal operations,” but doesn’t allow public access unless the business is considered “essential.”
That would eliminate professionals such as lawyers and insurance companies and accountants from truly being allowed to see clients.
“Whenever feasible,” the plan encourages employees to “telework or establish a rotation or staggered schedule to reduce the number of employees working on site.” If they are on site, people must wear masks in the workplace when within 6 feet of someone else.
And it asks businesses to “develop a plan for monitoring your employees’ health, with a particular focus on COVID-19 symptoms, with the goal of preventing ill employees from working.”
When will DeSantis sign off on plan?
Broward officials have been in constant communication with the governor and while “he is aware of Broward County’s reopening plans,” a formal letter has not yet been sent as of Wednesday afternoon.
The governor said at a news conference in Tallahassee that he would decide soon whether Broward could reopen. “Broward has definitely trended well,” DeSantis said concerning recent reductions in the numbers of people becoming infected with COVID-19.
Most of Florida reopened May 4, but South Florida, with the largest number of coronavirus cases, was treated differently. Palm Beach County, which requested to be released from the regional shutdown order, began its reopening on Monday after being closed for nearly two months.
Broward and Miami-Dade counties are next in line. Miami-Dade officials are also trying to reopen some businesses by Monday, May 18. On Wednesday, the city of Miami announced it plans to open some businesses starting May 20.
Broward County officials said hotels and indoor movie theaters are not yet part of its reopening plans. Broward’s beaches would remain closed until an undetermined time. Some changes are expected in the draft that was still being worked on late Wednesday afternoon.
Violators, who could be nabbed by city code enforcement and police, could face fines up to $500 per violation.
Jaxson’s Ice Cream Parlor & Restaurant, now open only for delivery and take-out, was waiting with baited breath for an announcement.
“We’re definitely on standby, we’re ready to go,” said owner Linda Zakheim. She is preparing to seat about 10 tables inside depending on the size of the party and 5 tables outside in the patio area. “We’ve space planned both dining rooms and we’ve organized that and we’ve ordered Jaxson’s masks for the employees and ordered paper menus that will be here Monday.”
New signs will also direct customers where to stand while they wait.
The Simon Property Group, which owns Coral Square mall in Coral Springs, said it is also closely monitoring the governor’s office to see when restrictions are lifted in Broward so they can open as well.
Commissioner Mark Bogen said the county is expecting the governor to approve the plan, which is still being finalized, “quickly. And we’ll be moving forward quickly.”
He said the office has been “bombarded” with emails from employees and business owners about wanting to open that say “let’s start opening up already.”