Restaurants, retail stores in Florida can open at 50% capacity starting Monday

Florida restaurants, retail stores, museums and libraries will be able to serve customers at 50% capacity starting Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis said Friday, according to CBS Miami. Previously, businesses could only serve customers at 25% capacity. 

Gyms will also be authorized to open at 50% capacity everywhere but South Florida — although the facilities will be subject to stringent sanitizing protocols. 

The move comes as part of Florida's move to a "Full Phase 1" reopening, which DeSantis described as "things the state could have done but didn't do initially," according to CBS Miami. 

Barbershops, nail salons and hair salons in the state were allowed to reopen earlier this week. DeSantis added that theme parks will be allowed to reopen, too, as long as they submit a county-approved plan. 

"They should identify the date certain that they believe that they could resume safe operations," DeSantis said. "They have to provide how they're going to do it, how they're going to accommodate the guests, how they're going to protect the staff, and then they need to have an endorsement from the relevant official in their locality."

Walt Disney World in Orlando has announced that they will reopen Disney Springs with "limitations on capacity, parking and operating hours. Disney has not yet set a reopening date for the theme park.

South Florida's Broward, Dade, and Palm Beach counties are hotspots for the coronavirus, with more than 25,500 cases, according to the Florida Department of Health. There are more than 44,130 cases statewide. 

As a result, more stringent measures remain in place in South Florida. Spas, bars, gyms, beaches, movie theaters, schools, tattoo shops, bowling alleys, pools, and massage parlors in the region will all remain closed, CBS Miami reported. 

In:
• COVID-19
• Ron DeSantis
• Florida