South Beach park closes after 5 days. Is it a warning that reopening too fast may backfire?

Is South Florida reopening too quickly, and if so, could the newly regained freedom backfire?

The region started to allow public access to parks, marinas and golf courses last week, after many residents began clamoring for fresh air and exercise. Elsewhere in Florida, even some businesses started to slowly reopen on Monday.

Lifting restrictions is both a tough call for authorities at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak and a test of whether the public will follow social distancing and mask rules meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Over the weekend, the public failed — at least in one place in Miami Beach. Five days after reopening under loosened restrictions, the popular South Pointe Park was shut down again on Monday as crowds flocked to the beach.

In those five days, park rangers issued 8,880 verbal warnings to people not wearing facial coverings, according to Miami Beach Police. After issuing just 1,551 face-mask warnings citywide during the first two days parks were reopened, park rangers issued 2,829 alone on Saturday and another 2,432 on Sunday.

Rangers also issued 511 social distancing warnings and asked 1,556 guests to leave parks after they closed at 7 p.m., an hour earlier than the 8 p.m. closing time at county parks.

Over the weekend, City Manager Jimmy Morales said rangers continued to report “serious compliance issues with respect to masks at certain facilities and rudeness towards staff.”

Reopening open spaces has been “successful” everywhere else in the city, but South Pointe Park “is the most egregious exception,” Morales said in a statement. “We have had city staff in the park to encourage people to comply, but they were met with hostility and non-compliance.”

County parks also reopened throughout Miami-Dade on Wednesday, more than six weeks after Mayor Carlos Gimenez closed them to slow the spread coronavirus, which has infected more people in the county than anywhere else in Florida. Despite that, there were hours-long waits at some county boat ramps, like Black Point in South Miami-Dade.

Gimenez reopened recreational spaces under strict rules, including the use of masks except when visitors are strenuously exercising. People with respiratory problems and children under 2 are also exempt from wearing masks. The county’s order is meant to serve as a “minimum standard” for cities and municipalities within Miami-Dade, but local governments “may impose more stringent standards,” the order says.

Highest death toll

Miami-Dade, meanwhile, continued to register the highest death toll in the entire state — 378 as of Monday — and almost a third of all confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Florida’s Department of Health on Monday confirmed 819 new cases of the disease as restaurants and shops across the state, except in South Florida, opened their doors to customers for the first time in weeks. Florida is now close to hitting the 37,000 mark, with a total of 36,897 confirmed cases.

Monday’s tally was the highest the state has seen since Friday, when a weeklong trend of daily totals under 1,000 was broken. There were also 20 new deaths announced, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,399.

More than half of the known COVID-19 cases are in South Florida’s four counties — Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe. And Miami-Dade continues to lead the state with the most confirmed cases at 13,092 as of Monday.

Florida’s businesses and beaches slowly started to reopen in a phased approach as Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed what he called a “very slow and methodical approach” to begin emerging from the lockdown.

Statewide, DeSantis said beach access “did not spark an outbreak” and “we’re getting a good sense of what are true high risk situations.”

But there was concern among Miami Beach managers that weren’t residents and visitors weren’t taking the risks associated with COVID-19 seriously enough.

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said he has noticed “understandable frustration” among residents, but those concerns cannot “take us off this course” of easing the city out of the pandemic.

“The social distancing is serious, and it’s too early to disregard it,” Gelber said. “There is a lot of frustration but that can’t be the organizing principle of what we do.”

On private social media pages that focus on Miami Beach issues, users expressed mixed reactions to the closure. Some were upset that the city was taking away their access to a public park. Others said following simple rules shouldn’t be so hard.

“South Pointe Park is Closed! #covidiots ruined it for everybody,” wrote Matthew Blake Moran on the group Miami Beach Community. “And this is why we can’t have nice things during a pandemic.. People want to open the beaches? Yeah right!”

Maria LaPietro Guerrero said on the Miami Beach Uncensored group that she was frustrated that after six weeks at home, the city is imposing more laws to restrict her movement.

“What will be next? When will this end?” she wrote. “First, we were staying home to flatten the curve. We did that. Now, 6 weeks later, we have more ‘laws’ and no end in sight.”

In other developments on Monday:

▪ Gov. Ron DeSantis distanced himself from Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, who killed a man in Philadelphia in 1993 when he was 14.

When questioned about the news at a press conference in Tallahassee Monday, DeSantis claimed that he “didn’t even know him.”

The killing, which Tony did not disclose when he applied for the Coral Springs Police Department, was recently brought to light by the Florida Bulldog. The website published a story Saturday detailing the May 3, 1993, shooting.

▪ Miami-Dade residents can once again visit their local libraries to check out books, DVDs and other materials. They just can’t go inside.

After being shut down since March 17, the county’s library system is now offering pick-up services for patrons who reserve materials online or by calling one of the 50 branches. The library will notify the patron when materials are ready for pick-up outside the branch door. The service is available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

A library card is required to check out materials. Residents who don’t have one can apply online and start using it right away. For questions, call 305-375-2665.

Miami Herald Staff Writers Samantha J. Gross and David Neal contributed to this story.