Q&A of the Day – Part 1: Mask mandates in South Florida - the impact for you
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry: Brian, I do my best to follow everything, but between full time work and a family of 4, it’s hard to keep it all straight. I thought that Governor DeSantis banned fines/penalties for going mask-free??? Please clarify.
Bottom Line: Today’s note comes on back of a recent discussion of mask mandates which are still in force in South Florida. In part driven by “season” now being in full effect in South Florida and the recent news that Mar-A-Lago was warned by Palm Beach County for not mandating masks be worn during the New Year’s Eve Party, there’s renewed discussion and at times confusion, regarding the mandates. To be clear, mask mandates are still in effect in Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties. What’s changed is the ability to impose fines for violators. If you doubt the implications of what could happen if you don’t wear a mask... Ask Cindy Falco Dicorrado who was arrested Friday for a second time (at a Boca Einstein Bros.) in a mask related incident, after she refused to wear a mask and then refused to leave. There are multiple ways in which mask mandates are being enforced and can impact you and businesses.
In the earliest months of the pandemic South Florida’s TriCounty (Broward, Miami-Dade & Palm Beach County) was carved out from the rest of the state by Governor DeSantis due to our high population and highest rate of contagion. During this time, mask mandates were imposed by all counties and fines were able to be imposed and collected by local governments. This was true at the county and municipal level. For the most part local law enforcement was reticent to issue citations, commonly issuing warnings instead. There were exceptions. Miami Beach, for example, was aggressive in issuing citations as they wanted to send a message to visitors who accounted for most of the mask less behavior. This changed on September 25th.
As part of Florida’s Phase 3 reopening, Governor DeSantis still allowed for local governments to issue mask mandates, however he prevented local governments from collecting fines from individuals cited. The merits of that decision have been debated on both sides of the issue since the determination. Numerous local governments have spoken out against the ability to fine – most recently Delray Beach last week. What a few local governments have decided to do, most notably Miami Beach during the holidays, is issue citations with a promise to collect the imposed fines once the governor’s executive order is lifted. While it remains to be seen if that’ll happen. It’s a least a possibility you could be cited today and fined at some point in the future. The biggest impact has occurred with businesses. I’ll pick up with the extensive enforcement actions taken against businesses in the second part of today’s Q&A.
Here's the link to continue with Part 2: https://ihr.fm/35SXPal
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