Miami Beach mandates coronavirus masks indoors and out
The COVID-19 measure went into effect immediately, $50 fines for not wearing masks in public
Miami Beach officials will impose $50 fines on people not wearing face masks in public.
All residents, in both indoor and outdoor venues, will be required to wear coverings effective Tuesday to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, which has spiked in Florida in recent days.
“You must be wearing a mask in our city," in a statement Mayor Dan Gelber said the rule is simple. "On the street, waiting outside a restaurant, in your condo lobby or at the park — wear it. It’s not a political statement, it’s trying to do your part to keep loved ones and neighbors healthy.”
Young people in particular, many of whom have flocked in large crowds to beaches and other hotspots in the city, need to limit their rate of in-person socializing while health officials continue to advise against it, Gelber said on FOX News on Tuesday.
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The crackdown on violators comes as COVID-19 cases soar across Florida, including a new 5,266 cases added to the 146,000 total. Miami Dad County has 35,221 confirmed cases. There has been an increase in hospitalizations and the number of ICU patients.
“We're a destination city. We’re a small city of ninety-two thousand. We get hundreds of thousands of people here and they come to the beach for the restaurants, for the promenades,” he said. “And there has not been at all the kind of compliance with social distancing and masks we'd hoped for. And all of our metrics are going in the wrong direction in the county and the state."
City officials will provide face coverings to those who need themThe rule is vital to “avoid having to do what ultimately may be something we don't want to, which is to return to a shelter in place," he said.
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Miami Beach joins a growing list of cities in Miami-Dade County making face masks in public mandatory. Miami Gardens, Aventura, Hialeah and North Miami Beach, did so last week.