Mayors across Miami-Dade and Broward counties have continued to remind the public that in order to move forward with reopening South Florida’s economy, businesses must adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Pages of technical legal documents laying out those rules now must be turned into reality. That’s where code enforcement steps in.
For Pietro Moz and his mom, Tuesday brought lots of excitement. They were two of the customers at the EC Salon in North Miami Beach where there was joy over being open once again.
All the workers and customers wore masks and gloves, just one of Miami-Dade County’s rules for reopening.
According to North Miami Beach Code Enforcement Inspectors Ridge Merisier and Hassan Ali-Cassim, the salon received good marks overall.
However, they wanted to see the CDC guidelines posted inside the business, and spoke to the manager about just how many clients could be inside.
“I was also looking at the capacity. According to the emergency order, establishments such as this should have 25 percent capacity, or 10 people, whichever is less, and it seems like they were over that,” Merisier said.
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Isabela Mayworm was at the front desk controlling who came in.
“Yea, it’s not easy, because we are accustomed to lots of people at the same time, but we need to keep safe,” she said.
The inspectors also told us that Jorge Navaro at Pomomdoros Pizza had more than enough space for his customers.
The tables easily allow 6-feet of distance between them.
“I have one, two, three, four tables set up, but I think it’s going to take time before people start coming in again like it used to be,” Navaro said.
The inspectors in North Miami Beach told us, for now, they are coaching businesses along when they find any shortfalls unless it’s something way out of line.
“I know that is very difficult for these establishments because they just opened up. We don’t want to hit them over the head but we want to give people some options as well,” Merisier said.
Now that will begin to change, they say, as South Florida moves further down the road with reopening and businesses.
