At a Tuesday morning press conference, Florida governor Ron DeSantis ordered all bars and nightclubs to close for 30 days starting a 5 p.m. on March 17 in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Restaurants are being ordered to screen employees before shifts, stagger seating by 6-feet to keep customers away from each other and operate at 50% capacity.
"Stealth carriers, people who don't have symptoms, but then are nevertheless passing along or have such mild symptoms is something that really nobody has a handle on that,” said DeSantis at the conference. “If they're not meeting in those big groups the chances of that being passed on is less."
DeSantis also asked that all Florida universities finish the spring semester online, after four University of Florida students recently tested positive for the virus.
“The goal of that is that the students not stay congregated on campus, but actually return home,” said DeSantis. “We think that that'll be safer for everybody. And we think that the universities are equipped to be able to handle the remote learning.”
In addition, the state is also calling for no groups larger than 10 people at beaches.
DeSantis stated that the Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation will enforce the new rules, but did not go into more details.
The announcement comes less than a day after Tampa MayorJane Castor called for all restaurants and bars to limit capacity and close by 10 p.m. St. Petersburg mayor also banned events with 50 people or more, and called for 9 p.m. last call, because of coronavirus.
Here's how to support Tampa Bay's food and drink scene while social distancing.
This is a developing story.
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This article appears in Mar 12-19, 2020.