Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Palm Beach County makes its plea to the governor to reopen
The appeal to Gov. Ron DeSantis was short and to the point. Palm Beach County wants to get back to business the same as most all of Florida.
The county sent DeSantis a letter Thursday asking for him to consider easing coronavirus restrictions in Palm Beach County, which remains shut down with the rest of South Florida because the majority of cases are concentrated here. Outside Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, restaurants and other businesses in Florida are allowed to reopen at 25% of capacity.
The letter signed by Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner made no argument for reopening and presented no health data to justify it. It simply asked for a discussion.
“We are recommending you consider and grant our county the opportunity to reopen in Phase 1 of your plan in a similar fashion to other counties of the state outside of South Florida,” the letter reads, in part. “We would like to engage in discussions with you regarding the acceleration of this at the earliest possible date.”
DeSantis has said he will allow
South Florida to reopen soon, when the disease has waned enough. But now is not the time, he said this week. DeSantis’ office did not respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon.
Palm Beach County has a much higher rate of cases than Florida as a whole but a somewhat lower rate than Broward and a much lower rate than Miami-Dade.
For every 100,000 residents, Palm Beach County has 239.7 cases; Broward has 290.8; and
Miami-Dade has 492.0. Florida, as a whole, has 180.8 cases per 100,000 residents.
Palm Beach County’s death rate is higher than Broward’s. The county’s large number of seniors, the age group most at risk for serious illness caused by coronavirus, is likely a contributing factor.
For every 100,000 residents, Palm Beach County has 14.8 deaths; Miami-Dade has 16.4; and
Broward has 11.8. Statewide, Florida has 7.5 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties had been coordinating their reopening plans to ensure that one county doesn’t get overwhelmed with visitors from another.
The letter also repeated the commission’s intention to hold a meeting Friday to review a proposed order to allow the beaches to open.
“This is being done in accordance with your Executive Order 2020-90, where beaches were closed in Palm Beach and Broward Counties, and you provided the County Administrators the ability to enforce, relax, modify or remove these beach closures,” the letter says.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Hal Valeche, whose district includes Jupiter, North Palm Beach and the town of Palm Beach, has been among the most vocal advocates on the commission to split from the regional effort and reopen before Broward and MiamiDade counties.
“I’m getting a little frustrated because this is something that’s not that complicated,” he said, when reached by phone Wednesday.
Dr. Alina Alonso, Florida Department of Health Palm Beach director, encouraged caution.
“We flattened the curve because we put in the social distancing right when it could have been bad,” she said at Tuesday’s commission meeting. “This is not a matter of ripping the BandAid off and everything will be fine, because then the cases will go back up.”