After implementing a barebones blueprint of phase 1, Florida will be taking a slight detour on the road to phase 2, with the state set to enter a 2.0 version of phase 1 on Monday.
Governor Ron DeSantis announced at a press briefing in Jacksonville on Friday that the Sunshine State would be transitioning into a less restrictive form of phase 1, with gyms reopening and the capacity threshold at restaurants and other businesses being raised to 50 percent.
While Floridians were eyeing an announcement on the next phase, DeSantis took a more conservative approach, announcing “full phase one” at today’s press conference. A more broad version of phase 1 that was announced on May 4, the next phase in Florida’s reopening will allow gyms to reopen at 50 percent capacity on Monday.
“This is a virus that, if you’re in good shape, you’re probably going to be OK. So, why would we want to dissuade people from going to be in shape?” DeSantis said about gyms during a news conference in Doral.
Facilities that reopen will be required to adhere to social distancing guidelines and must clean and sanitize their equipment after each use.
The next step in restarting the economy will also include increasing the capacity at other businesses, such as restaurants, retail shops, museums, and libraries.
Who is pumped?!? Governor DeSantis announces that full Phase 1 starts Monday May 18th:
🏋️ Gyms can operate at 50% capacity – individuals must clean the equipment
📚Museums and Libraries can open at 50% capacity
🍔Restaurants and retail can have 50% capacity indoors pic.twitter.com/NYSxM30wgi
— City of Jacksonville (COJ) (@CityofJax) May 15, 2020
Movie theaters, however, which were included in the guidelines issued by the White House, will not reopen Monday. Bars and nightclubs will also remain closed for now, while theme parks will be allowed to submit a plan for reopening.
Vacation rentals will also remain closed, however, DeSantis said he would consider reopening them if they were being rented to other Florida residents.
Today’s announcement comes a little less than two weeks after DeSantis announced the initial steps for phase 1. The beta version of DeSantis’ recovery plan included allowing restaurants and retails shops to reopen at 25 percent indoor occupancy.
No plan for phase 2 has been announced.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for additional details.
Still no camps or anything for kids to do. The slow approach is killing our children who can’t play youth sports, go to church school (or any school for that matter), and all this with 0 data supporting that kids can even contract Covid any more than they could the flu. In fact, the flu is way more dangerous to kids than Covid and EVERY data point says this. With children of his own, it’s crazy to think that the Governor is intentionally stunting the children of the state. Keep in mind, the kids from impoverished backgrounds are proven to be left behind in the summers when they have no option for school. Now every child is being disregarded because of a virus that disproportionately infects the elderly. How many healthy NCAA athletes have died? 0. How many children under 16 who have no health challenges have died? Next to 0.
But STILL we have no recognition that people 25 and under don’t have the same risks as those 65 and older. Come on, Mr. Governor! Get kids playing again.
Follow-up: But kids 18 and under can STILL go to work at PUBLIX or a supermarket…so DON’T TELL US IT’S ABOUT KID’S SAFETY!!! Other countries have kids back in school. ALL of them!
That is great news, really!
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