Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
State beaches, businesses slowly start opening again
The wait is over in much of Florida, as beaches and businesses began reopening Monday.
Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties aren’t included in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order to reopen some retailers, restaurants and state parks, though one state park in Broward was allowed to reopen.
Under Phase 1 reopening, social distancing requirements and capacity restrictions are in place. What remains closed statewide, though, are salons, barbers, spas and other personal care businesses, with DeSantis not giving a clear timetable for those operations to reopen.
Some South Floridians, still under shutdown orders, made their way to the closest neighbor that reopened Monday — Martin County, which borders Palm Beach County to the north.
The beach in Stuart had a few hundred people seeking sand and surf. College-aged sunbathers, young families and some retired snowbirds from New York who extended their stay in Florida are sought sunshine.
Most people appeared to be social distancing, though few wore face masks.
“The beach is usually busier this time of year, even on a Monday,” said Tanya Evertsen-Coonradt, 49, of Stuart.
A bit farther north, Jensen Beach had a little over 100 people on the sand and in the water.
About a dozen surfers enjoyed the taller waves in Jensen, despite fewer people at its beach than in Stuart.
A few cars driving in Martin County near the beaches Monday bore license plates that said “Palm Beach County” and a few more had license plate frames from car dealerships in Palm Beach and Broward.
A concession stand at a Jensen Beach boardwalk had a family of about six people in line with a hand sanitizer bottle for beachgoers.
Lifeguards manned every tower and police officers on ATVs patrolled the beaches.
Jim Glover, 65, of Palm City, co-owns Cafe Boonma, a Thai restaurant in Stuart that opened in December. The restaurant closed in the middle of March but has been offering take-out and curbside ordering.
“We were fortunate enough to get three good months of business in and build a good following,” Glover said Monday, just hours after reopening for sitdown service.
The restaurant is operating at 25% capacity and only serving people outdoors, with tables spaced six feet apart.
“We’re so happy to be open and welcome people back,” Glover said.
Outside the restaurant sat Rose Sobel, 69, and her husband Richie Sobel, 71, both of Palm City. It was their first time going out to eat since the shutdown.
The couple, just a few months away from their 50th anniversary, had masks and hand sanitizer with them for before and after eating. He wondered when more businesses would reopen.
“Why can’t they open up?” Richie Sobel asked.
Glover and Josephine Maira, who owns Josephine’s Cafe and Bistro in the same shopping center, said most of their customers Monday were locals who they knew from before the shutdown. Both said they met a few Palm Beach County residents who were staying at nearby hotels with private beaches.
Maira, 52, of Port St. Lucie, said she is still worried for the future due to uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, but what she saw from Monday’s reopening was reassuring.
“It’s a bit scary, to be honest with you today, because we don’t know what to expect,” she said. “We don’t know what the right thing to do is, really. Unfortunately, we have to move on or all of us will lose everything we’ve worked for our whole lives.”
Among the things Maira is most looking forward to is seeing her longtime customers and being able to hug again.
“Everyone knows me as a big hugger,” she said. “I miss hugging and saying ‘hi’ to everyone.”
Michele Bouquet, 64, of Stuart, is still waiting to reopen her Toned Body Pilates Studio. Gyms, yoga studios and hair salons are among the businesses that still aren’t allowed to open under the governor’s orders.
“You destroy people’s livelihoods for no reason,” she said outside the empty studio, which she said fits less than 10 people.
Fearing an influx of people from the more populated counties, Martin County Commissioner Sarah Heard voted against reopening county beaches.
“There may be 20 counties that have opened up their beaches — the big difference is those counties are not adjacent to the three most infected counties in Florida,” she said at a commission meeting Friday. “There’s 6 million people living to the immediate south of us. … It would be reckless, in my estimation, to open up our beaches right now.”
Hobe Sound beach remains closed because of its proximity to Palm Beach County. Bathtub Beach is closed because of sand erosion.
One South Florida state parks reopened Monday. The state Department of Environmental Protection website said Hugh Taylor Birch State Park in Fort Lauderdale would operate with limited services from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Trails are open and restrooms and trash cans are available, the agency said, but beach access and other park facilities are closed. Visitors are expected to maintain social distancing of at least six feet and limit the size of groups to 10 people.
State Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, had urged reopening of the park on East Sunrise Boulevard between the Intracoastal Waterway and State Road A1A, and he asked people who use it to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and practice social distancing.
Other parks in the region still aren’t open for business. Remaining closed are: Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson in Dania Beach; Oleta River in North Miami Beach; Bill Baggs Cape Florida in Key Biscayne; and John D. MacArthur Beach in North Palm Beach.
After busy crowds — many not wearing face masks — packed the popular South Pointe Park over the weekend, the city of Miami Beach announced Monday that it has shut down the park just five days after it reopened under eased coronavirus restrictions.
More than 7,300 people received warnings about wearing face masks at South Pointe Park from Friday to Sunday. People who are not exercising or who don’t have breathing problems are supposed to wear face coverings. More than 700 received warnings about social distancing.
County parks reopened throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties on Wednesday.
“I thought we were going to have to fight a mob,” one woman said at the beach in Stuart on Monday.