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Palm Beach to Reopen Monday; Miami Area to Follow Week Later

Miami-Dade Targeting May 18 to Start Reopening, Mayor Says

(Bloomberg) -- Florida’s three most populous counties are moving toward reopening their economies over the next two weeks, starting with Palm Beach County on Monday.

Miami-Dade and Broward are likely to follow on May 18, according to Governor Ron DeSantis, who spoke to reporters Friday in West Palm Beach.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach have the three largest populations in the state, respectively, and account for 59% of Florida’s 39,199 confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Florida began reopening this week, allowing restaurants and retailers to serve customers, provided they follow certain guidelines and limit capacity. But the reopening initially excluded the three hard-hit areas. DeSantis has partially blamed the scope of the outbreak there on the region’s close ties to New York.

“The epidemic was more difficult” in those three counties, DeSantis said. “But the trends were still positive.”

DeSantis said Palm Beach officials came to him with a request to reopen, and he subsequently consulted with the other two counties that remain closed.

“There was a sense that they needed a little more time to be ready to open, and I think that that’s fine,” he said.

Earlier Friday, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez addressed the planned reopening date, stressing that it was just a target. He said he hoped that it would include restaurants, but didn’t go into detail.

Separately, DeSantis tweeted a video saying the state was authorizing barber shops, hair and nail salons to do business in all counties in the first phase of reopening.

Florida, home to one of the nation’s largest populations of retirees, was considered particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, and it appears for now to have dodged a worst-case scenario projected by some health experts.

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