‘Stay home, save lives’ is so yesterday, says Carlos Gimenez, opening parks

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By the county’s own measure, at least 165,000 people countywide have been exposed to the coronavirus causing COVID19 — but it’s still time to start opening the parks and boat ramps and golf courses.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez — who just last week was asking people to “stay safer at home” — went ahead and opened some parks, tennis centers and golf courses on Wednesday, of course taking cues still from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who announced he would be making an announcement about reopening this week, too. Golfers have to ride in separate carts and practice social distancing, but Killian was packed Wednesday afternoon. Tennis has always lent itself to social distancing. But Ladra doesn’t know how they’ll do that on a basketball court.

“While I checked on the opening of our county parks, golf courses and boat ramps, I was pleased to see people following the rules set forth while #MovingToANewNormal,” the mayor tweeted Wednesday, using the new hashtag. Forget #SaferAtHome. That is sooooo yesterday. “I saw people enjoying themselves at Tropical Park, the boat ramp at Matheson Hammock and Palmetto Golf Course.”

Read related: Miami-Dade transit workers finally get COVID19 protection, riders get relief

So, why were these places closed to begin with? If people are going to be trusted to social distance, why were parks ever closed when food markets and hardware stores were open?

Beaches are still closed. Because nobody wants to be embarrassed with a repeat of the crowds seen on the sand in Jacksonville and in California when those beaches opened. People from all over the county would flock to the beach — something we’ve never been so cognizant of and grateful for. Most non-essential businesses remain closed — except wrestling because it’s “essential,” according to DeSantis, and of course it has nothing to do with the fact that the World Wrestling Federation’s Vince McMahon is married to Linda McMahon, Trump’s small-business administrator from 2017 until 2019, when she became chair of the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. Nah. Don’t even think that.

Let’s call the county’s open spaces reprieve a pre-opening. Because that’s what it really is. The pressure is on to open more establishments — hotels, stores, bars, restaurants, hair salons and tattoo parlors — as soon as safely possible. Key word: safely. But when is that? Phasing in is the phrase of the day. So the county is taking baby steps to see what happens.

It’s an experiment. We’ve never had to do this before. Let’s just hope there isn’t a spike in infections.

Gimenez made the announcement about the reopening on Monday, when the state of Florida reported the largest number of COVID19 deaths (83) in a 24-hour period. Talk about bad timing. The Department of Health’s COVID19 dashboard shows the numbers in Miami-Dade, the state’s coronavirus epicenter, continue to rise. There were 11,798 county residents who tested positive as of Tuesday, 1,445 of those were hospitalized. There were also 338 deaths.

The Florida Department of Health data — and there are questions about whether it’s complete and accurate (more on that later) — shows that there were almost 100 more positive cases reported Monday than Sunday. That’s not flattening the curve. That’s not 14 consecutive days of a downward turn. That’s not even one day of consecutive downward.

Read related story: Stay home for COVID19 — unless you ride a bus, get a bite, need toilet paper

And the data being collected by the county and the University of Miami through their surveillance antibody testing of “randomly” chosen residents to see what the exposure and infection rate has really been, indicates a positive rate of 6%. That means, with the margin of error taken into account, that somewhere between 135,000 and 225,000 have been exposed and infected. What we don’t know is how many of those are still positive.

That’s why Hialeah, Miami, Miami Gardens, Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay — at least, maybe more municipalities — are not opening up their parks. Not just yet.

“We are waiting for confirmation from the Florida Department of Health that wehave reached the criteria needed to go to phase one,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said on Caracol 1260 AM Wednesday, referring to 14 consecutive days without more positive cases, a reduction in symptoms being reported and hospital capacity.

“That information is being analyzed daily. Sometimes more than once a day,” Suarez said. “I have seen no evidence that we have reached the criteria,” he said, adding that he would talk to the state’s surgeon general on Thursday.

Suarez also doesn’t have the flexibility with his budget to hire 400 furloughed TSA and other security workers to patrol the parks and ensure that people are wearing masks and standing six feet or more apart.

Read related: Miami and Miami-Dade mayors battle gain, this time over MIA and COVID19

Baby X and Gimenez have been in sort of a COVID response war since the whole pandemic crisis started. Suarez was the first to cancel events such as Ultra and the Calle Ocho festival, which Gimenez at first criticized. Taking his cue from DeSantis and President Donald Trump, he said there was no reason to cancel those events. Then later he cancelled the Youth Fair and a big tennis match.

Gimenez also followed the city on the stay-at-home order and delivery of meals to seniors, also criticizing the Miami mayor’s attempt to limit passenger flights to Miami International Airport from COVID19 hotspots. Gimenez went so far as to write a letter to the president asking him to disregard Suarez’s letter. Now that the governor and even the president think it’s a good idea, Gimenez might change his mind.

It makes sense that Gimenez — who is running for Congress and needs to raise more money (more on that later) — would want to be first on something, so now he is first on reopening.

Suarez said he doesn’t want to undo all the progress that’s been made in slowing the infection rate.

“It would be terrible if we slipped back,” he said.

Even for a little golf?

  Carlos Gimenez, coronavirus, COVID19, Francis Suarez