Closed back in July the restaurants and casinos in Miami-Dade are allowed to reopen tomorrow. The venues will operate under strict health and safety protocols and a 50% reduced capacity.
Casinos and Restaurants in Miami-Dade Can Reopen Tomorrow
Miami-Dade casinos and restaurants which offer indoor dining can reopen doors tomorrow, August 31. The venues were allowed to reopen their doors following an order by the County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. The order, which was signed on Friday this week, allows the casinos and restaurants to reopen their doors with limited capacity. Similar to other states, visitors of the casinos will need to mandatory wear masks. On the other hand, restaurant guests will need to wear masks when not eating or drinking.
Both restaurants and casinos will need to limit their capacity to 50% of the visitors. The venues which will reopen doors tomorrow will also need to follow the restrictions which were previously implemented such as social distancing and enhanced cleaning protocols. With that in mind, effective from tomorrow, punters will not be allowed to consume foods or drinks while playing at the gaming tables or slot machines. Visitors that would like to have food or drinks will be allowed to do so in designated areas.
Restaurant visitors will also need to follow the restrictions introduced by each venue. The maximum people which will be allowed to sit at a single table will be reduced to six. Furthermore, according to the order restaurants are “required to run their HVAC systems with the fans on while people are in the establishment.” The county’s order also outlines that restaurants must open doors and windows to ensure the circulation of fresh air.
In Six Months Casinos in Miami-Dade Were Ordered to Closed Twice
Casinos, restaurants, and other entertainment businesses in Florida were closed back in mid-March. The closure was an effort of the state officials to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the state. After nearly three months of suspended operations, casinos were allowed to reopen in June.
Early in July, Miami-Dade saw multiple spikes of reported positive COVID-19 cases. As a result, six weeks after their initial reopening, the venues were ordered to shutdown once again. The order by Miami-Dade Mayor Gimenez came into effect on July 3. Besides the shutdown of casinos, the order also introduced a 10 PM curfew. Upon releasing the order back then, it was unknown for how long it would be in effect.
In the weeks that followed the state officials kept track of the number of reported positive COVID-19 cases. Although at some point Miami-Dade had the highest number of reported positive COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 related deaths out of any county in Florida, recently the numbers have improved. Earlier this week, state officials noted that the positivity rates halted at 8.2% for the last 7 days. The results from the last 14 days also looked promising with 9.3% of positive cases.
This resulted in the order which will come into effect tomorrow and allow the reopening of restaurants and casinos. However, according to the order, many establishments will remain closed for the moment. Those are movie theaters, concert houses, convention spaces, bowling alleys, arcades, and other indoor amusement facilities.