ORLANDO, Fla. – As the Sunshine State moves to the third and final stage of its coronavirus reopening plan, restrictions placed at the state level have been lifted, however, local mask mandates remain in effect across Central Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Friday that the state would move to phase three now that daily COVID-19 case numbers have been declining.
While the governor honed in on allowing full capacity at restaurants during a news conference last week, few other businesses and stipulations were addressed, which created some confusion locally.
At one Baldwin Park restaurant, a sign was posted on the door telling customers: “We are encouraging all our guests to please still wear masks, however, we are no longer requiring this as the mandate has been lifted.”
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The governor’s executive order doesn’t specifically address mask mandates because a statewide mask mandate was never issued. Instead, it’s been up to local governments to decide whether they’d like to require masks and in Central Florida, several of them have.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said shortly after the executive order was issued that masks are still required and on Monday, his office confirmed that was still the case.
Demings added that the governor’s order created confusion for local leaders, business owners and residents because the county didn’t know it was coming and didn’t have time to review it beforehand.
“I’m disappointed about this because as we deal with this pandemic everything happens at the local level,” Demings said. “This is where the rubber meets the road and in order for us to be effective at dealing with the virus, we have to have good communications.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer also encouraged residents to keep following the same guidelines to stop the spread that they have been for months now.
“Irrespective of the governor’s order today, I encourage everybody to continue to exercise pandemic precautions, continue to wear your mask, continue to social distance, continue to practice appropriate hygiene,” Dyer said Friday.
Leaders in Seminole County also said Friday that their mask mandate would remain in effect while Osceola County officials said Friday they were still reviewing the order.
To keep up with the latest news on the pandemic, subscribe to News 6′s coronavirus newsletter and go to ClickOrlando.com/coronavirus.
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September 28, 2020 at 03:37AM
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Local coronavirus mask mandates remain in effect as Florida moves to phase 3 of reopening - WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
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