Miami-Dade Restaurant Owners Could Get Relief Next Week As Broward Eateries Extend In-Door Dining Hours
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Restaurant owners in Miami-Dade will discuss and ask for some relief next week.
"It's the indoor dining. That is the issue. The rules are already in place, we already know that. It's 50 percent capacity. But we need to talk to them," County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said.
County Mayor Gimenez will talk with owners and doctors about the current ban on indoor dining Monday.
Owners are asking to welcome people back indoors since the two-week average positivity rate is around 11% and slowly going down.
"It doesn't mean a full-fledged opening. That will have to wait until we have a vaccine," Gimenez said.
Heading north in Broward County, restaurant owners have also been allowed to have people eat inside. However, it's at a reduced capacity.
Restaurant owners in Broward recently won a fight to allow restaurants to stay open until 11 at night. That's an extra hour to make money since the county's two-week positivity rate is around 8 percent.
"Many of our restaurants asked that we give them an extra seating so that they can serve an extra set of people before they close," Broward Mayor Dale Holness said. "Ideally what we would like to see is us go below 5% before we do a lot more than what we are doing today."
A new order issued Friday in Broward also bans drinking alcohol in public places like beaches, boardwalks, sidewalks, and parking lots.
Leaders made the announcement at Fort Lauderdale's Holiday Park that'll continue rapid tests Tuesday. It's for people 5 and older. But those 18 to 64 must show symptoms. That's the only major place in Broward with the type of tests.
It's an effort to slow the spread, especially since experts believe Labor Day weekend may bring a spike in cases.
"We are going to have a spike again sometime in September or October," Gimenez said.
Miami-Dade now has close to 630 contact tracers. So far, the virus has not been traced to any hair or nail salon. They are also seeing people at multigenerational take extra precaution to protect the most vulnerable.
