Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade congressman-elect, tests positive for COVID-19

Miami-Dade County’s former mayor, Congressman-elect Carlos Gimenez, and his wife have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. This comes as the county reported more than 3,700 new COVID-19 cases since Wednesday.

Just after 4 p.m. Friday, Gimenez, 66, tweeted that after several negative tests, he and his wife, Lourdes Gimenez, 65, had tested positive. He said they are “feeling good and experiencing no symptoms at this time.”

As mayor, Gimenez took an aggressive stance in combating the virus, although he raised eyebrows on the Sunday night before the election when he allowed President Donald Trump to hold a campaign event at Opa-locka’s executive airport that violated the mayor’s curfew.

He will be self-isolating in his home but will continue virtually attending the New Member Orientation for newly elected members of the House of Representatives. Gimenez, a Republican, defeated Democratic incumbent Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in Florida’s 26th District, Florida’s most competitive U.S. House race.

Gimenez, who was term limited as mayor, falls into a high-risk category for COVID-19 because of his age.

Daniella Levine Cava, the former commissioner sworn in as the new Miami-Dade mayor on Nov. 17, sent well wishes to her predecessor, also via Twitter.

Also on Friday, Florida’s Department of Health released two days’ worth of virus figures because of the Thanksgiving holiday, confirming 17,344 more cases. The new cases bringing the state’s total to 979,020, third-highest in raw numbers in the country. The state also reported 109 new resident deaths, bringing the cumulative toll to 18,363.

Miami-Dade County reported 3,752 new cases since Wednesday and seven new deaths. The county has a total of 224,166 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths, the highest in the state.

Handling the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic

Gimenez’s positive test followed months of grappling with the virus as a politician trying to balance the safety of the public against the rights and needs of business owners.

At the start of the pandemic, then-Mayor Gimenez cited state guidance in his position that the county saw no need to cancel Ultra or other major events, like the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition.

This position changed a week later when Gimenez declared a state of emergency in Miami-Dade. The first large event that was canceled after this was the Youth Fair hours before its first opening. Later that same day, Gimenez called on President Trump to suspend travel between Cuba and Florida, a day after Cuba reported its first three cases.

Two days after this declaration, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez tested positive for COVID-19, later testing negative after 18 days in quarantine. Miami-Dade and Broward school districts also announced they would be closing to in-person learning.

Soon after, Gimenez ordered an indefinite closing of daytime activity centers for seniors and suspension of evictions and water cut-offs.

One of the more extraordinary measures he took as cases spiraled was ordering the closure of all the bars, restaurants, taverns, pubs, nightclubs, movie theaters, concert halls, gyms, bowling alleys and other similar businesses in the county by 11 p.m.

The next day, all nonessential retail and commercial businesses were forced to close their doors. This included supply, shops, barbers, casinos and malls. Hundreds of businesses sheltered their doors.

On March 26, Miami-Dade issued its first “Safer at Home” order, urging residents to stay home and only go out for essential activities, like work, shopping and recreational activities.

Road to Reopening

Like many mayors, Gimenez used Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan for Florida’s Recovery as a baseline and became stricter in some portions where necessary.

The first of three phases was put into effect May 4. Shortly before the county allowed phase one reopening, Gimenez released the New Normal Guide, a plan that included five colored reopening phases.

The county was placed in the yellow phase, which corresponded to DeSantis’ phase one. This meant limited openings of nonessential businesses and other facilities, along with parks and open spaces being able to open again.

Phase two went into effect June 5 and phase three by Sept. 25, which allowed for a full reopening of all businesses with limited social-distancing protocols.

Miami-Dade entered this final phase as well with the rest of the state, but Gimenez added additional restrictions like maximum seating per table in restaurants and some establishments having to keep at 50% capacity.

Mass gathering events and sporting events were allowed to resume but with capacity limits. But Miami-Dade’s curfew stayed in place.

One of the final tests of Gimenez’s road to reopening was Trump’s rally at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport on Nov. 1. Earlier that day Gimenez said he would not lift a midnight curfew that was still affecting the county.

Trump’s appearance ran afoul of the county’s “New Normal” rules. Thousands of supporters attended the event, breaking the county’s capacity guidelines, and the rally lasted well after the midnight curfew. Breaking these rules as a restaurant meant $500 fines, but the rally was allowed to carry on.

During the noisy event, Gimenez was booed by some rally goers, despite his vocal support for Trump, possibly because his moves to control the virus seemed to go farther than what the president had endorsed. In the end it didn’t matter, as Gimenez won election Nov. 3 even as the president lost.