Broward Worked Up Over Gym Openings, County Says No, Fort Lauderdale Says Yes
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - There are mixed messages in Broward as to whether gyms can reopen on Monday as Phase 1 reopenings happen countywide.
The City of Fort Lauderdale announced Sunday that public gyms have the green light to open.
Broward said that's not allowed per one of its orders. The city says the county's latest order doesn't ban public gyms and goes along with Phase 1 of the state order handed down by Governor Ron DeSantis allowing gyms to open.
So, Fort Lauderdale is moving forward with allowing gyms to open with restrictions.
Employees must wear face masks and have their temperature taken at the start of their shifts. Those with temperatures about 100.1 degrees will be sent home.
Hand-sanitizer stations must be provided at the entrance. Members must use it when they go in and when they leave.
Social distancing markers should be placed in front of the membership desk. Machines and equipment stations must be socially distanced six feet apart.
Members must have their temperature taken upon entrance. They will be turned away if they have an elevated temperature.
Staff must constantly sanitize equipment. Members will be required to sanitize equipment after use.
"We are not going to open. We would be ready if we had been given a little more time," FLL CrossFit owner Gui Inacio said.
Inacio and his girlfriend, Sabrina Cabreja, acknowledged there's confusion but said they'll be ready after Memorial Day. That's when their child will most likely be born, cleaning will be done and new rules will be in place.
"When you come in, you won't need to touch anything, except the equipment that you're going to be using. There's not going to be an exchange of equipment," Inacio said.
Starting Monday, Broward and Miami-Dade will allow dine-in at restaurants. Shops and salons can open as well. But some cities are different.
The cities of Miami, Hialeah, and Miami Beach will open shops and salons Wednesday. Dine-in will start a week later.
Miami Gardens will allow retail shops to open Wednesday. But there's no date set for salons and dine-in.
Coral Gables is allowing retail and salons to open Monday. Dine-in will start Wednesday.
A Key Biscayne resident says now is the time to reopen.
"I think it should open because we are going crazy," Anita Faibisch said.
Two traveling nurses in South Florida to help fight COVID-19 agree and are hoping for more testing too.
"We are actually here on a traveling nurse assignment. We are happy about it," Najm Wright said.
"Hopefully when we get the testing for more people, we can really see what's going on," Jennifer Dorn said.
Statewide numbers show an increase in cases last week, 45,588, compared to the week before, about 4,300. Roughly the same amount of people were tested each week, which is around 125,000.
Six south Florida cities are among the ten highest in the state for the number of positive cases.
Local and state leaders say a key reason they're allowing a reopening is that hospitalization numbers are down.
As for the Fort Lauderdale, the city's mayor would like to see beaches open after Memorial Day. But he acknowledges that most likely can't happen unless Miami-Dade is on board.
Miami-Dade and Broward counties still have testing sites. There's also still a demand for people who want to know if they had the virus.
On Sunday Banyan Medical Services, which has antibody testing kits in Aventura and Bal Harbour, is pushing back against a report of a study that casts doubt in the accuracy of their tests.
The tests are allowed because of relaxed rules from the FDA but the company is hoping for official approval and submitted a study from Johns Hopkins University to the FDA.