Associated Press
Florida’s two biggest counties joined the rest of the state on Monday in reopening nonessential businesses and restaurants after widespread coronavirus closures, but areas popular among visitors maintained restrictions as a precaution.
Miami Beach and the city of Miami were delaying opening retail, hair salons and barbershops until later this week and restaurants until later this month.
In the rest of the state, Florida allowed restaurants and shops to expand their capacity on Monday from 25% to 50%. The state also allowed gyms, libraries and museums to reopen at limited capacity.
Residents started to take steps back toward normalcy, with barbershops making their first snips in weeks, cafe owners handling lunch rushes and fitness centers trying to figure out how to accommodate the new rules.
“As you can imagine, there are a lot of people desperate to no longer look like a caveman,” said Ricky Patel, who runs a barbershop in the Miami suburb of Doral. He said he was strictly enforcing appointments and extending his ours so that only five customers were allowed inside the business at a time.
In other commercial districts, restaurant owners said they were encouraging reservations for people looking to finally dine out, but also seeing many walk-ins despite the drizzly weather in South Florida.
In South Miami, Jan Jorgensen, owner of a restaurant called Two Chefs, said he was receiving meats and produce ahead of the first dinner since officials ordered all dining establishments to close on March 17. He expected between 10 and 15 guests the first night.
“We are keeping tables empty as blockades, so our 6-feet apart rule is more like 10 feet apart,” he said. “We are taking every precaution we can in order to make everything right.”
Jorgensen said the extended closure gave him an opportunity for the restaurant to repaint the walls, renovate the space, update the menus and fully disinfect.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the lighter traffic with people staying home made it possible to complete highway projects months in advance.
“Many states throughout the country, they stopped all construction. They stopped manufacturing as well. I think that was a big mistake. We did not do that in Florida. We kept construction going,” DeSantis told reporters gathered near an Interstate 4 interchange where new highway ramps were opening.
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Republished with permission from The Associated Press.
