WALK-UP TESTING

Few businesses are cited despite an increase in virus complaints

The Boulevard Heights Community Center, above, in Hollywood and the Dania Beach City Hall, middle, were offering free walk up COVID-19 testing Saturday. The Vincent Torres Memorial Park, bottom, in Lauderdale Lakes was not offering COVID-19 testing Saturday.

Despite thousands of complaints from the public, few businesses have been cited for violating coronavirus rules, even as COVID-19 climbs to new heights in South Florida, newly released data shows.

Palm Beach County residents have filed 2,044 complaints, but most businesses received only warnings for mask violations, lack of physical distancing and forcing employees to work when they should be quarantined.

Broward County has received over 1,000 complaints, documented on a public website, in just over a week. Inspectors have issued 42 citations and 658 warnings as of Friday. Over 100 of the violations were for businesses that had not been approved to reopen.

Cities and counties have become

more aggressive about violations in recent week as COVID-19 cases have soared, but they insist they are trying to preserve the economy while also battling the spreading virus.

No business in Palm Beach County has received the same type of complaint more than once, and most complied with restrictions after receiving warnings, according to records compiled by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Among the violations:

■ Level E Lounge in Lake Worth and American Craft Aleworks in West Palm Beach are both bars, which are not allowed to open, according to county code enforcement officials. Level E Lounge was closed on June 26 by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. American Craft Aleworks was shuttered by the city of West Palm Beach and county’s code enforcement team July 2.

■ Greenacres Bowl, a bowling alley, and Grover’s Pool Hall in West Palm Beach were also ordered to close by county code enforcement teams, which said Greenacres Bowl “had failed to complete work-plan as required,” and that the pool hall “is not authorized to operate,” according to Robert Santos-Alborná, code enforcement director for the county.

■ On June 17, 18 and 19, Boca Raton code inspectors and police officers responded to calls about Whistle Stop Public House, 499 NE Spanish River Blvd., Ste 395, over complaints about the bar and restaurant being overcrowded. In a report June 19, inspectors said Whistle Stop was “visibly over the

50% occupancy stipulation,” patrons were being served at the bar inside, and the Boca Raton Police Department would follow up. A spokesperson for the police department did not respond to request for comment.

■ Delray Beach cited two businesses for serving customers at the bar:. The Blue Anchor, at 804 E Atlantic Ave., was fined $4,000. And Wine House Social in Pineapple Grove received a $3,000 fine. The Wine House Social’s owner Dina Branham said she thought she was in compliance with the state’s orders. A June 13 report from the city’s code enforcement department on June 13 says she destroyed a warning notice officials tried to place on the door of the business. Branham said she has not received the fine or instructions on how to pay.

“It wasn’t an inspection. It was blatant intended premeditated harassment and retaliatory bullying,” Branham said. “They came to find something. If it wasn’t seating at [the] bar, it would have been something else. I’m no dummy.”

A few cases remain active in Delray Beach, according to code enforcement records:

■ Coffee District, 325 NE Second Ave. Ste. 104: On June 17, code enforcement officials said they saw customers being served at the bar area. Inspectors told the managers they were not supposed to be serving at the bar and the managers began clearing customers from the bar area.

■ Caffe Luna Rosa, 34 S. Ocean Blvd.: A code enforcement case file for a June 17 inspection offers few details but says Caffe Luna Rosa was serving a patron or patrons at the bar and is awaiting reinspection.

■ Massage Heights, 420 E. Linton

Blvd., Ste. 804: According to a code enforcement report, the owner of Massage Heights thought his business was allowed to open on May 11, but inspectors are awaiting clarification from the state. Clarification and a follow-up inspection are still pending, according to the case file.

■ Hand and Stone, 900 Linton Blvd., Ste. 915: Similar to Massage Heights, inspectors say the owner of Hand and Stone was under the impression that they were allowed to open. Reinspection is pending more information from the state, according to code enforcement’s case file.

None of the business owners aside from Branham responded to requests for comment.

In Boca Raton, code enforcement officials have inspected fewer than 20 businesses since May 11 according to department records. The city has issued no citations or ordered any business to close, according to city spokeswoman Chrissy Gibson.

Miami-Dade County: 2,527 new cases, bringing the total to 60,868. A total of 1,147 people have died, which is 14 more than Thursday.

Testing trends

Since the pandemic began,

254,511 people have tested positive for the virus in Florida. That includes 3,527 non-residents. So far a total of 2,477,810 people have been tested.

The positivity rate for the

24-hour period is roughly 18%. The positive test rate for the entire pandemic has now crossed the 10% threshold and stands at roughly 10.3% as of Saturday’s numbers.

In South Florida, the virus is spreading even faster.

The daily positive test rate reported Saturday was 23% for Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Hospitalizations

An additional 425 people were reported Saturday to be hospitalized, the second-highest single day count since the epidemic began.

Hospitalization numbers are another statistic that has been rising sharply, with Saturday’s total more than double the daily counts of two weeks ago, and Saturday marking the third straight day with hospitalizations exceeding 400.

The state just began reporting the current number of people hospitalized for the disease, having previously reported only the total number since the epidemic began. The current number hospitalized for COVID-19 in Florida stands at 7,238.

The largest number is in Miami-Dade County with 1,580 hospitalized, followed by Broward with 1,004 and Palm Beach with 595.

Deaths

Statewide: The official COVID-19 death total for Florida Saturday stood at 4,301. That figure includes 104 non-residents.

Senior care: At least 2,082 of the state’s deaths have occurred in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a figure that represents 48% of the state’s total for coronavirus deaths. Broward accounted for 169 deaths or 8%. Miami-Dade accounted for 547 deaths, or 26%, and Palm Beach County had 254 deaths, or 12%.