Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Officials alarmed as bars, restaurants can extend hours
Virus expected to spread more widely with ruling
The coronavirus is likely to spread even more widely now that a federal court has stopped local government from closing bars and restaurants overnight, health experts say.
The order this week by Judge Raag Singhal of the Southern District of Florida could lead to longer periods when people are gathered inside transmitting the virus — a troublesome prospectat atime whenCOVID- 19 is already exploding, they say.
“Whenever there is a situation where people are in close proximity, there will be more transmission of the virus, yes,” said Dr. Nicole Iovine, an infectious disease physician and an epidemiologist for UF Health, a University of Florida Medical Center.
She and other medical experts expressed their concerns Wednesday, two days after Singhal threw out a Broward County order that prohibited food and alcohol sales between midnight and 5 a.m. The nine businesses that sued Broward over the order were all back in business immediately, said their lawyer, Brad Cohen.
The legal implications of the ruling are unclear. Broward officials say they are unaware of any other county with the same specific prohibition on food and alcohol sales during the same hours. Nonetheless, the judge’s order will discourage other counties from taking that step, some legal authorities say.
Health officials are in greater agreement about the possible damage to public health.
Iovine, at UF Health, explained that COVID-19 “transmits better the more people are around, closer proximity to one another” — for example, in a bar for a longer period.
“Whenever a situation occurs where you have more people, that will be conducive to transmission. Those are the facts of the transmission of respiratory viruses,” Iovine said.
“I suspect bars and restaurants become more crowded in the evening — that would be a higher risk
time than 3 in the afternoon when the number of people is lower.”
Dr. Mari Mitrani and her husband founded Organicell Regenerative Medicine in Miami and developed a product now in clinical trials for a COVID 19-therapy. She said bars and restaurants place “everybody in a roomful of virus.”
“People are thinking we are past it, but we are still very deep in this war. ... I understand people have to keep living their life, but we are in a year we cannot do that. If we could see this virus, we would be a little more cautious,” Mitrani said.
Broward County had argued in court that the rules were needed because bar patrons remove their masks and disregard social distancing as they become more inebriated, allowing the virus to spread.
The county also argued that the restaurant rules weren’t a curfew, but just a ban on the sale, service and consumption of food or alcohol.
The federal judge disagreed, writing: “While the County insists the midnight to 5:00 a.m. restrictions do not operate as a curfew, they in fact do. Plaintiffs’ businesses cannot effectively stay open if prohibited from serving food and drink.”
Singhal said Broward’s rules conflicted with an order from Gov. Ron DeSantis that prohibited restrictions on bars and restaurants, part of the governor’s attempts to sustain the state’s economy.
Cohen, like many businesses, takes the position that government restrictions are damaging to the economy and an overreaction to public fear.
He argued that the county’s order “wasn’t in any way, shape or form scientifically related to the spread of COVID. They’re just making ordinances to make ordinances, a kneejerk reaction and not thinking things through.”
Peter Ticktin, a civil attorney in Deerfield Beach, said the curfew “flies in the face of the governor’s attempt to get businesses rolling. I think people are catching up and realizing there’s been a major overreaction by a lot of the governments.”
Ticktin believes the federal court order will dissuade local governments around the state from taking overly aggressive actions.
Broward may not give in, however. County officials say they are still considering whether to appeal, but Mayor Steve Geller said the county is likely to fight back or enact a new order that addresses issues raised by the judge.
Until then, the ruling means bars can go back to normal business, aside from a temporary curfew for residents and businesses that was signed Wednesday afternoon.
The sweeping holiday curfew keeps people indoors from midnight to 5 a.m. from Christmas to Jan. 4. Christmas and New Year’s Day are exceptions when the curfew will be 1 to 5 a.m. rather than midnight.
Nobody can be on the street or sidewalk, with a handful of exceptions such as dog walking and going to or from work, a professional sporting event or a religious service.
County officials insist that the holiday curfew is acceptable because it applies to everybody.
Robert Barron, a Fort Lauderdale corporate and real estate lawyer, agreed that there’s a difference between this curfew and the bar and restaurant rules. Broward would likely fare better in a court challenge over the holiday curfew, he said.
“A curfew for all citizens is within the province of a local rule of a county,” he said.
Fort Lauderdale officials see the issue differently. They say they have no intention of enforcing the holiday curfew because they believe it flies in the face of the federal ruling.
If the county wants the curfew enforced in Fort
Lauderdale, it needs to send in Broward sheriff’s deputies, Mayor Dean Trantalis said Wednesday.
“A federal court ruled against the county for imposing the closure of businesses,” Trantalis said. “And so for the county to now issue an order that on its face appears in direct violation of a federal court ruling puts cities in a contradictory situation. To turn around and impose a curfew is a slap in the face to the federal court. Until we get a definitive statement from the federal court, the city of Fort Lauderdale is in no position to violate a federal court order.”
Miami-Dade County has a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. and, like Broward, will ease the curfew to 1 a.m. on Christmas and New Year’s.
Miami-Dade lost a court challenge to its curfew, but the ruling was overturned in the 3rd District Court of Appeal. Tootsie’s Cabaret in Miami had argued that the curfew violated the governor’s order to re-open, but the appellate court ruled that the order “does not expressly preempt curfews by local government.”
Palm Beach County has no plans to issue a curfew, although the Town of Palm Beach has one that lasts through Jan. 12, officials said.