The Miami Beach Police Department announced Monday that the park was closed until further notice after they issued 7,329 verbal face cover notices and more than 470 notices for failing to reach the social distance between Friday and Sunday. Most of the violations occurred in South Pointe Park, according to MBPD.
Visitors were welcome as long as they always wore face coatings, kept their groups less than 10 people, staying one meter away from other groups and not participating in organized activities, sports or lessons.
But the city’s director, Jimmy Morales, said that the city authorities’ efforts to enforce the rules were welcomed with hostility, and while officials tried to reduce the crowd by closing the park’s parking lot on Sunday, it didn’t help.
“We tried in good faith to open our parks to help people get out safely. In almost all the other parks in the city, this experiment has been successful. South Pointe Park is the most striking exception,” said Morales in CNN. “We had city staff in the park to encourage people to comply, but they were greeted with hostility and non-compliance.”
“There is no way to effectively impose social distancing when hundreds of people refuse to do so. The best way to protect our residents and first responders is to keep it closed until further notice,” added Morales.
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