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The latest updates on the COVID-19 outbreak in South Florida. This page ended its updates as of August 2020. Head here for additional stories on COVID-19 and the pandemic.

Broward And Palm Beach To Close All Non-Essential Businesses To Contain Coronavirus, Governor Says

Amy Beth Bennett
/
South Florida Sun Sentinel
A patient is swabbed during drive-thru testing for COVID-19 at Cleveland Clinic Weston’s Krupa Center on Thursday, March 19, 2020.";

Broward and Palm Beach counties soon will shut down all “non-essential” businesses as part of containing the new coronavirus, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday afternoon.

DeSantis planned to help the two counties craft orders to close such businesses Friday. The orders would resemble one issued by Miami-Dade County earlier Thursday, a move that brought businesses to a halt in an effort to quell the spread of the pathogen. Among businesses considered essential are grocery stores, gas stations, day care facilities and pet supply stores. Non-essential businesses such restaurants must close or convert to take-out only.

“Dade has already done it. It will apply in Broward and Palm Beach," DeSantis said. “And if you look at the cases in Florida, it’s a clear majority of cases [that] are in those three counties. ... I think Southeast Florida is the epicenter of what we’re fighting in Florida and so we want to work constructively with the local folks.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel.

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