Miami-Beach-City-Manager-Signs-a-State-of-Emergency-Declaration-3.12.20We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic
community.
City of Miami Beach, 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, FL 33139, www.miamibeachfl.gov
MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT, Tel: 305.673.7575 PRESS RELEASE
Tonya Daniels, E-mail: tonyadaniels@miamibeachfl.gov
Melissa Berthier, E-mail: melissaberthier@miamibeachfl.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2020
Miami Beach City Manager Signs State of Emergency Declaration
–In Response to COVID-19–
Miami Beach, FL – In response to the World Health Organization classifying the
coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic along with emergency declarations from both
Governor Ron DeSantis and County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, the Miami Beach City
Manager has signed a State of Emergency — recognizing that it’s important for everyone
to do their part to prevent the spread of this virus.
“There is not a real playbook for addressing this challenge,” said Mayor Dan Gelber.
“And for our City – with so many visitors, venues and gatherings – it is particularly
daunting. But panic is not part of our playbook. We will take actions that are grounded in
the best information available. The Manager's emergency declaration makes sense so
that we can have all the tools available to diminish the risk. We all appreciate the
substantial economic impact this will have on our hospitality industry, but curtailing large
gatherings and crowds is necessary at this time.”
As a result of the city declaration, the municipality will refrain from issuing special event
permits for gatherings of 250 or more people for the next 30 days.
The city is cancelling or postponing all public events, including the spring break
beachfront activation, Culture Crawl, and the ADL No Place for Hate gathering. For a full
list of impacted events, please visit www.MiamiBeachFl.gov/coronavirus.
Additionally, the following public cultural facilities are closed starting tomorrow until
further notice: Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason, Colony Theatre, North Beach
Bandshell and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. The Bass, Wolfsonian-FIU and
Botanical Gardens will remain open, but all of their events are canceled
In the spirit of implementing social distancing, the city has also encouraged all Miami
Beach Homeowner Associations not to hold in-person meetings. City staff will be
available telephonically or over email to answer any questions. Resident advisory
committee meetings will either be postponed or held telephonically.
The above measures are consistent with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
(CDC) community mitigation guiding principles, which is a set of actions to help slow the
spread of virus infections. The City Manager’s State of Emergency emphasizes
individual responsibility at the personal level, empowers business and community
organizations to follow suit, and provides special attention and services to vulnerable
populations that are at an increased risk of severe illness.
We are committed to providing excellent public service and safety to all who live, work and play in our vibrant, tropical, historic
community.
“We are confident that changing our actions for a short period of time will help reduce
long-term impact,” added City Manager Jimmy Morales. “We fully understand the
extraordinary economic implications that these measures will have throughout our
community, but feel it necessary to take these actions now so that we can bounce back
as quickly as possible.
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