Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday lifted all COVID-19 restrictions on businesses, including restaurants and bars, saying the threat of the coronavirus pandemic had eased sufficiently to allow the state to enter Phase 3 of its reopening.
Phase 3, which takes effect immediately, allows restaurants and bars to operate at full capacity with limited social distancing protocols. The order also requires local governments to justify any COVID-19 related restrictions on restaurants and bars.
Phase 3 also allows for fitness, recreational and personal care businesses to operate at full capacity, removing restrictions set in earlier phases.
“This will be very, very important to the industry,” the Republican governor said during a news conference in St. Petersburg. “You can’t say no after six months and just have people twisting in the wind.”
Florida has been hit hard by the pandemic, with more than 690,000 testing positive and 13,900 dying from the virus. With 3,100 cases per 100,000, the state ranks second only behind Louisiana in its rate. But since the end of July, the state has seen a decrease of cases and hospitalizations, DeSantis said.
DeSantis said his order also suspended all outstanding penalties for individuals who have been fined for not following COVID-19 restrictions.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Diane Craft and Timothy Gardner)