Palm Beach County nixes night crowds

Crowds have flocked to Palm Beach County restaurants after hours to drink and party as coronavirus cases continue to surge.

So Palm Beach County now will join Broward and Miami-Dade in tightening restrictions for restaurants to crack down on these latenight parties, County Administrator Verdenia Baker said Tuesday.

Baker signed an order Tuesday afternoon requiring restaurants to close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Restaurants cannot serve food or alcohol during those hours, Baker said. Though restaurants will have to close indoor and outdoor dining at 11, they can still offer takeout and delivery, the order says.

The order takes effect Thursday.

“It is the nightclubs. It is places that the executive order of the governor has not opened. He intentionally left them closed,” Baker said at a meeting of county commissioners. “However, people are opening them. Some restaurants are serving normal [hours], they close. Others serve normal hours, and then they open for night activity.”

To enforce the order, Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement officers can give fines to any person or business not following the rules, the order says.

Individuals can be fined $25 for a first offense, $50 for a second and $100 for each one after that. Businesses can be fined $250 for the first violation, $350 for a second and $500 for each additional violation, the order says.

Mayor Dave Kerner previously

said Palm Beach County would not shut down latenight dining at restaurants as Broward and MiamiDade began to put new restrictions in place ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. But Kerner told the South Florida Sun Sentinel the county’s administration would be ready to “pull that trigger when necessary.”

In addition to restricted restaurant hours, Baker said amusement parks, hookah lounges and smoking bars, banquet halls and ballrooms also will have to close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Dr. Alina Alonso, director of Palm Beach County’s health department, said data shows cases spiking because of people gathering in after-hours crowds.

“And from the contact tracing that we’re getting, the majority of the positive cases are coming from large gatherings, especially after hours, late at night when the restaurants close, they open them up for partying, drinking, music, which is what people like to do,” Alonso said.

Some of the positive cases also arise from church gatherings and funerals, Alonso said.

“It’s impossible to keep the distance. It’s impossible to sometimes wear the mask, and they get comfortable around people who they know and they let their guard down,” Alonso said.

Commissioner Hal Valeche said the county’s enforcement for businesses breaking the rules must be more aggressive than it has been before.

If businesses are being fined only up to $500 for opening or not following rules, that amount is too small for them to care, Valeche said.

He told the commission he hopes to have police patrolling in areas after hours to find businesses violating the order and “shut them down aggressively.”

“There needs to be a law enforcement presence, not a code enforcement presence,” Valeche said.

Baker said a change to an ordinance will be brought to the commissioners at the next meeting about increasing fines and closure times for businesses not following the rules.

In Broward, Mayor Dale Holness’s order says a business will be forced to close for an additional 72 hours for each violation.

Baker said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has shut businesses down, but they reopen shortly after. “If they are only getting fined $500, they can make that back all day and night,” Baker said. “We have to have the hammer that hurts.”