Miami Mayor Francis Suarez: 'No More Warnings, Those Not Wearing Masks Will Be Fined'
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Friday afternoon that the time for warnings is over. Those not wearing masks in his city will face fines, the mayor said.
The mayor gave his remarks during a press conference in Coconut Grove.
Suarez also announced that there will be no stay-at-home order.
He also said starting Monday, there will no longer be a warning for not wearing a mask in public. He mentioned 29 warnings had been issued to date.
Mayor Suarez announced the fine for not wearing a mask starts at $50. It goes up to $150 for a second offense and then $500 for a third offense.
The city has handed out 5,000 face masks to people in the last few weeks.
The mayor says at one point, the city was seeing about 125 additional cases a day, but that's down to about 50 new cases a day.
Leaders feared 18-to-34-year-olds were going out and then contracting the virus and then their families were impacted.
The city has inspected roughly 42,000 businesses. Ten were shut down within the last two weeks.
The mayor talked to business owners on Friday and he explained why there will be no stay-at-home order.
"Business owners can sometimes weather certain storms. They have the ability, but the employees may not be able to and there are not many safety nets (federal) and some did express concerns for their employees. There are not a lot of safety nets. There's no PPE, there's not an extension of unemployment," said Suarez.
The mayor also said about 100 Miami police officers were impacted by
COVID-19. The officers are not working because they are either positive or waiting for test results.
Florida International University Infectious Diseases Specialist, Doctor Aileen Marty says tougher restrictions should not be off the table.
"We're hoping against hope that people are getting the message, that they're changing their behavior," she told CBS News Friday. "If we don't see that by Monday, Tuesday then yeah, it's possible that we may have to enact further measures."
