Miami-Dade County declares $100 fine for anyone without a mask in public

Fiona Murchake, DCNF

Miami-Dade County has announced a $100 fine for residents who fail to wear a mask in public spaces in an effort to enforce the county’s “New Normal Guidelines.”

“The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance sponsored by District 4 Commissioner Sally Heyman that makes failure to comply with Emergency Orders a civil offense, subject to a $100 fine,” said the county’s statement released Thursday.

Effective immediately, civil citations can be issued to individuals or businesses for violations of any Emergency Order. Let’s work together to keep #OurCounty safe. For more information on the Mayor’s emergency orders, please visit: https://t.co/lhd8ehKhpI pic.twitter.com/36Qn6vLjBL

— Miami-Dade Police (@MiamiDadePD) July 16, 2020

The ordinance is part of Miami-Dade’s “New Normal Guidelines,” which outlined the procedures residents and businesses must adhere to, including the mask requirement and closure of some restaurant, CNN reported.

“This ordinance gives our County a new two-pronged approach to ensuring that everyone is following the New Normal rules so that we can more effectively tamp down the spread of COVID-19,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez in the statement.

Miami-Dade County has the largest population in Florida, and has a 33.5% coronavirus positivity rate, according to CNN.

Florida reported more than 11,400 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to over 327,000, according to local outlet NBC 6 South Florida. Miami-Dade County reported 2,442 new cases Friday, bringing the county’s total to 77,867.

Despite the spike in Florida’s case count, Governor Ron DeSantis has not enforced a state-wide mask mandate.

“Governor DeSantis believes in a bottom up decision making process and not from the top down,” the governor’s press office told Newsweek in a statement Thursday. “The needs of each community may differ, a cookie cutter approach does not work in a diverse state such as Florida, and he supports all local efforts to defeat this virus.”

Florida currently leads the United States with the most coronavirus cases per capita for the fifth consecutive day, at 55 cases per 100,000 people, CNN reported.

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