A popular park in Miami Beach was closed Monday after authorities issued thousands of warnings over the weekend to people who weren’t following coronavirus prevention rules, authorities said.
The city of Miami Beach tweeted that South Pointe Park was closed until further notice. Between Friday and Sunday, park rangers gave 7,329 verbal warnings to people in the city, most of them at the park, according to the city.
“Friendly reminder that you MUST wear a face cover when enjoying any one of our” parks, the city tweeted.
Florida’s statewide stay-at-home order expired Thursday, and many businesses, beaches and parks have reopened with social distancing and other rules in place.
In Miami Beach's parks, organized sports are banned, pedestrian trails are marked one-way and social distancing is required for groups of 10 or more. The city said it will enforce the new rules with penalties and fines.
Beaches in Miami-Dade County, meanwhile, remained closed Monday. In Pinellas County, on the Gulf Coast, the beaches were open and Sheriff Bob Gualtieri deployed hundreds of officers to patrol the region.
"The whole purpose is to make sure this is done in an orderly way," he said, adding that people were complying with spacing and group size restrictions.
"People are doing the right thing," he said.
