Restaurants in Miami-Dade County are allowed to open their dining rooms Monday, but the rules are slightly different this time.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giménez said Tuesday that unlike when indoor dining was permitted in June, his latest executive order will emphasize ventilating restaurants.
All establishments will be required to keep all windows and doors open during operating hours. Additionally, air conditioning units must remain on at all times while open, meaning restaurant operators can’t leave them on automatic, Giménez said.
The county will also implement stricter requirements for wearing masks. Guests who enter restaurants must wear a mask until they are served water and anytime they get up from their table.
“We do need to keep our guard up. We will still need to wear our masks for the foreseeable future,” Giménez said. “While we’re heading in the right direction, but we’re not out of the woods yet.”
Indoor seating will be limited to 50% of a restaurant’s maximum capacity, as was the case the first time dining rooms in the county could reopen. Tables are required to be spaced at least six feet apart, which is also the requirement for outdoor seating.
Giménez also said the county’s 10 p.m. curfew will remain for now, but he plans to revisit the discussion of extending it to 11 p.m. after Labor Day weekend.
Broward County extended its curfew to 11 p.m. on Aug. 21.
Miami-Dade County’s Covid-19 positivity rate has remained below 10% for the past week, Giménez said. The lower positivity rate played a large role in Giménez decision to reopen restaurants for indoor dining.
However, to keep that rate low, he said officers will be active in enforcing the new rules across the county.
Prior to Giménez’s announcement, Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernández said his officers would no longer enforce the county’s indoor dining restrictions. Since the county’s executive order doesn’t go into effect until Monday, Giménez said Miami-Dade County police will continue to enforce restrictions if Hialeah’s department won’t.
Covid-19 numbers have improved recently in Miami-Dade County, but it still has the most confirmed cases of the virus in Florida. As of Wednesday, the county had 154,000 confirmed cases, which is 25% of the state’s total caseload, according to the Florida Department of Health.
