The city of Miami loosened its COVID-19 restrictions around restaurant capacity and pushed its curfew back to midnight after commissioners expressed concern over small-restaurant owners suffering losses through the pandemic.
Commissioners approved the changes at a meeting Thursday that underscored the city government’s differences with Miami-Dade County’s approach to handling the current stage of the pandemic. One had reservations about changes for fear the coronavirus, which is spreading with a positivity rate between 4 and 5 percent in the community, will spike.
The new rule will allow restaurants inside Miami city limits to open at up to 100% capacity so long as they can maintain six feet between groups of people, and owners would not be required to submit a plan to the city explaining their occupancy plan, as they are required to do for the rest of Miami-Dade County.
Read more from WLRN news partner, the Miami Herald.