The City of Miami is among four cities in Miami-Dade County taking part in Wednesday's partial phase one reopening that includes retail and grooming businesses as well as public parks.
The cities are opening more slowly amid the coronavirus pandemic than Miami-Dade County, which partially reopened Monday with businesses and restaurants allowed a maximum of 50% indoor capacity.
Miami is joined by Hialeah, Miami Beach and Miami Gardens in the move to join the rest of the county, which along with Broward County joined the rest of Florida in entering phase one this week.
Restaurants in Miami will have to wait until May 27 to reopen.
CORONAVIRUS LATEST
Under Miami's reopening guidelines, facial coverings must be worn at all times in retail businesses, with sanitization and cleaning measures in place.
Hair and nail salons, barbershops and spas are allowed to reopen, with employees required to wear a facemask and gloves at all times. There'll be a number of other rules that must be followed by workers and customers.
A total of 26 City of Miami parks will be reopening Wednesday for passive use between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Facemasks are required at all times unless doing vigorous exercise or for children under 2.
For a complete list of the parks reopening Wednesday, click here.
At a food giveaway in Wynwood Tuesday, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said city officials are keeping an eye on the COVID-19 cases trends in Miami-Dade, the hardest-hit county in the state for the virus.
“We are looking at that, and that’s a concern. What we have tracked is, from the moment that the county decided to open parks and marinas, we started to see a bit of a counter-trend and we are looking at that internally," Suarez said.
Suarez said the slower implementation of phase one in the city is to try to help stop the virus from making a big comeback. Miami has by far had the most COVID-19 cases among Florida's cities.
“What we have seen in terms of our analysis of the data is that the virus unabated grows three times faster than it's diminishing with all the rules we implemented right now, so that just means that we have to be more vigilant than ever," Suarez said. "I can tell you right now, as mayor the last thing that I want to have to do is go backwards."
