Miami-Dade restaurants will be allowed to open indoor dining on August 31

DORAL, FL – Once again, Miami-Dade restaurants will be able to reopen indoor dining on August 31 as long as they don’t allow more than 50% capacity and up to 6 people per table.

At the beginning of July, Miami-Dade Mayor, Carlos Giménez, signed an order with several restrictions to restaurants including closing indoor dining areas. That meant families were only able to sit outside or order a take-out when visiting restaurants. 

But on Tuesday, August 25, Giménez revealed during a live press conference that things were about to change after on-going rumors of possible changes in restaurants restrictions that emerged last week. 

According to Time Out news, the Mayor had private video calls with restaurant owners and met with the county’s League of Cities to discuss easing restrictions.

“They had all signed something that said they wanted [dining rooms] open some time ago,” said Mayor  Carlos Giménez.

This new announcement doesn’t mean things will go back to the normality we had in pre-pandemic times. “We will need to wear our masks for the foreseeable future,” Miami-Dade Mayor said, as reported by CBS Miami. 

In other words, people must keep their mask on until they are served a drink like water or the food they ordered. 

Restaurants will also need to comply to other rules such as making sure air conditioning is on all the time and keeping windows and doors open to allow for better air circulation.

In addition, restaurants must close by 10 at night, although the curfew restriction may be lifted after Labor Day. 

“On the advice of The White House Task Force, I’ve decided not to push back the curfew at this time. It’s something that we will look at after the holiday weekend,” explained the Mayor.

All these decisions come amid improvements in numbers regarding the coronavirus in the county. The mayor said the 10.3% two-week average positivity rate and hospital numbers are finally under a thousand patients.

“We’re hovering around 10 percent [positive rate] and I want to make sure it keeps going down, so we’re going to take this very cautiously…Staying vigilant includes a stay on the current 10pm curfew and maintaining casinos, banquet halls and bars closed for the foreseeable future. We’re taking it one step at a time and are heading in the right direction.”