COVID-19 outbreak partially shuts down Trump's Mar-a-Lago
Former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago club has been partially shut down because of a COVID-19 outbreak, a receptionist confirmed to CBS News. The extent of the outbreak at the club, where Mr. Trump has resided since leaving office, is not clear.
An email to club members obtained by The Associated Press said staff members tested positive for COVID-19, and as such, the club will temporarily suspend service at the beach club and dining room. One club member confirmed to CBS Miami that they received a phone call about the closure.
Photos posted to the Mar-a-Lago Facebook page on Friday show people gathered without masks.
The club said in the email that it has undertaken "all appropriate response measures," and will sanitize affected areas. Some services, including banquets and event services, will remain open.
Palm Beach County, Florida, where Mr. Trump's club is located, has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the state, according to Johns Hopkins University. As of Friday, there have been nearly 127,500 cases in the county, as the state approaches two million cases. There were more than 5,100 new cases reported in the state on Thursday, according to the state's department of public health.
Earlier this week, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties issued a statement to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis saying that his recent actions "inadvertently" sent a message that people should ignore coronavirus safety measures, according to CBS affiliate WPEC-TV.
Last week, the governor canceled all coronavirus-related fines for people in the state, WPEC reported.
"For a full year now, communities across Florida have been working incredibly hard to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and local governments, including the southeast Florida tri-county area, have issued common-sense measures recommended by the CDC to protect our residents, businesses and visitors," the letter said. "While our positivity rate continues to trend in the right direction and vaccination efforts are accelerating, now is not the time to throw caution to the wind as we are so close to putting this pandemic behind us."
