The vast majority of counties in Florida are moving into the next stage of reopening on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced on Wednesday.
Almost the entire state will be moving into the second phase of reopening after a month in phase one. Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach, which were hit particularly hard by the novel coronavirus, will be excluded. However, they can seek approval to enter into the second phase of reopening with a letter from the county mayor or administrator.
DeSantis explained on Wednesday:
We started with phase one about a month ago but we only did the 64 counties, excluding the three large southeast Florida counties and the reason why we did that was those southeast Florida counties represented I think at that time about 60 percent of all the cases hospitalizations and fatalities, they still represent the bulk of those.
The governor already eased some of the restrictions lifted in phase two, allowing salons and barbershops to operate at a limited capacity. Nonetheless, phase two allows bars and pubs to operate at a 50 percent capacity inside and full capacity outside, and restaurants will be able to offer top-bar seating. Phase two also allows retail stores and gyms to operate at full capacity while maintaining sanitization and social distancing guidelines.
Entertainment businesses are also permitted to operate at 50 percent capacity. That includes movie theaters, bowling alleys, concert houses, playhouses, and auditoriums. People are still encouraged to avoid gatherings of more than 50, and DeSantis’s administration advises that employees of nursing homes and long-term care facilities undergo coronavirus testing “on a routine basis”:
Florida, which has a population of over 21 million, had 60,183 total coronavirus cases and 2,607 related deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health’s numbers on Thursday.