Masks Required In County Buildings, Encouraged Elsewhere: Mayor

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL — With COVID-19 cases surging in South Florida and throughout the state, Miami-Dade County officials are once again encouraging masks and social distancing for all residents, whether they’re vaccinated or not.

“Over the last few weeks, we have all seen an enormous, an alarming rise in the COVID cases across our community and the country,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a Monday news conference. “Our positivity rate is now over 10 percent and COVID hospitalizations are continuing to increase.”

More than 11,000 new cases and a 10.1 percent new case positivity rate were reported in Miami-Dade County from July 16-22, according to the Florida Department of Health’s COVID-19 Weekly Situation Report.

To “slow the spread” of the virus, masks are once again required indoors at all county facilities for employees and visitors – both vaccinated and unvaccinated – in line with the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on wearing masks, Levine Cava said.

Masks also continue to be required at transit facilities, on buses and in the airport, in accordance with federal regulations, she added.

Beyond this, officials are “strongly recommending everyone wears masks in large crowds and small spaces,” Levin Cava said.

She also encourages that everyone gets vaccinated against coronavirus. Currently, more than 75 percent of county residents 12 and older are vaccinated, the mayor said.

“Otherwise perfectly healthy people, almost all of them unvaccinated, are ending up in the hospital with worsening symptoms, and we know that this delta variant is particularly spreading extremely quickly,” she said. “All those who are unvaccinated are at increasing risk.”

County leaders will also resume weekly vaccine calls and the county is reinstating daily hospital reporting requirements.

“This will ensure we’re once again tracking all the key COVID data,” Levine Cava said. “This is essential so we all can be assured that our healthcare system will not be overwhelmed.”