Stripped of mandates, Miami-Dade urging ‘common sense’ when it comes to mask wearing

Miami-Dade County had a mask rule in place for nearly 400 days before Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday issued his most sweeping decree yet, suspending every emergency COVID-19 order issued by municipal leaders across Florida.

The decision left local mayors denouncing the move, and telegraphing the next phase of Miami-Dade’s COVID-19 economy: governments left to encourage businesses to keep requiring masks and residents to keep wearing them in hopes a vaccination effort will ease the threat later in the year.

“I urge our community to continue using common sense to prevent the spread of the virus and most importantly, to get vaccinated — our best and only path forward to truly put the pandemic behind us,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement that said she was “deeply concerned” about the DeSantis order. “And I urge the Governor to commit resources to helping to educate and persuade Floridians to get vaccinated.”

Masks in Miami-Dade County first became mandated by emergency order at 6 p.m. on April 6, 2020, under a decree signed by then-Mayor Carlos Gimenez and later ratified unanimously by the county commission.

Enforcement began to taper off the first time DeSantis intervened in local COVID-19 rules. In September, he barred local governments from collecting fines connected to COVID-19 violations against individuals. In March, he canceled the fines altogether. The result was a countywide mask order that was in place but largely unenforced. Miami-Dade’s Clerk of the Courts reported Monday no COVID-19 citations were issued countywide over the weekend.

“He pretty much took the teeth out of the cities and the counties when he said no citations,” said Carlos Hernandez, the Republican mayor of Hialeah and a frequent critic of DeSantis’ COVID response “Really, this is nothing new.”

Miami-Dade had already lifted most of its COVID-19 rules by the time the DeSantis order was announced on Monday. On April 6, Levine Cava ended dozens of detailed restrictions on businesses in favor of a consolidated order.

It continued most of the masking requirements and capacity caps for restaurants. The DeSantis order targets those directives, declaring them suspended.

DeSantis wrote in his latest order that he wanted Florida to “return day-to-day life back to normal.” In Miami Beach, Mayor Dan Gelber said in an interview that the families of those who continue dying or being hospitalized due to COVID-19 likely don’t think the pandemic is “over.”

“He needs to stop following ideology and instead start following science,” Gelber said. “He’s obviously intent on opening up our economy with as much peril as humanly possible.”

The city had not announced changes to its emergency measures as of Monday afternoon, but Gelber believed the order would likely strip the city’s power to close down businesses for a lack of mask usage among customers or employees.

Even as Miami-Dade backed off COVID rules in the private sector, strict restrictions remained when it came to government meetings. Some chambers are closed entirely to the public.

In Miami-Dade, Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz reserves seats in the chambers for county employees and restricts members of the public to entering only when speaking on an agenda item.

A spokesperson, Olga Vega, said no decision has been made for Tuesday’s meeting. “The chairman is waiting to see the governor’s executive orders,” she said.

In Miami, Mayor Francis Suarez issued a statement that emphasized the city getting back to normal. “The City of Miami will abide by the Governor’s order as we continue to work toward a full reopening of our city,” he said.

Robert Finvarb, whose company owns Marriott hotels in the Miami area, praised the DeSantis order as allowing businesses to make informed decisions on what’s best for employees and customers. Even so, Finvarb said no rules would change at his properties.

“We’ll still operate in an abundance of caution,” he said. “Many of our visitors are not from the state of Florida, so they may have different expectations about what’s a safe environment.”

Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.