Governor Announces Phase 1: Safe. Smart. Step-By-Step Plan for Florida’s Recovery

04/30/2020

Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Prepared by Metz, Husband & Daughton, PA

At 5pm yesterday, Governor DeSantis released the first phase of relaxing restrictions to re-open the state of Florida. The Governor’s “Safe. Smart. Step-By-Step Plan for Florida’s Recovery” which will begin on Monday, May 4, specifically excludes Florida’s hot-spot counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach from the initial phase of reopening. The Governor indicated that the phase 1 recommendations will apply to these South Florida counties “soon.” The plan and its recommendations emanate from some but not all of the Re-Open Florida Task Force’s recommendations and include:

  • Schools remain in distance learning.
  • Visits to senior living and assisted living facilities are prohibited.
  • Elective surgeries can resume statewide if the hospital can support it with necessary PPE.
  • Restaurants may offer outdoor seating, with six-foot spacing between tables and indoor seating at 25% capacity (under CDC recommended guideline and if the local government allows).
  • Retail establishments can operate at 25% of indoor capacity (under CDC guideline and if the local government allows).
  • No changes for bars, gyms, and personal services such as hair dressers and movie theaters in phase 1.
  • Recommending (not mandating) facemasks when working in a face-to-face business or where you cannot maintain a safe distance of six feet.

The Governor’s Executive Order for Phase 1 reopening has been released. A PDF copy of the Executive Order 20-112 is available HERE.

Florida’s Next Steps

Key metrics to consider as we move to next steps:

  • The state maintains the health benchmarks of the “Safe. Smart. Step-By-Step Plan”
  • Maintaining hospital bed capacity will be the #1 metric that drives future decisions
  • Monitoring COVID-19 test positivity rate

The Governor noted that this does not need to take months, but will be assessed on a daily basis. It will be based in Florida’s health metrics and guided by medical authorities.

Statement by Senate President Galvano on Governor DeSantis’ Safe, Smart, Step-By-Step Plan for Florida’s Recovery, can be found here.

BACKGROUND:

On April 20, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the formation of the Re-Open Florida Task Force’s Executive Committee which held its first teleconference meeting that afternoon. The Re-Open Florida Task Force consisted of three Industry Working Groups which reported directly to the Executive Committee each day during the week of April 20-24. These Industry Working Groups focused on a broad range of industries based upon their job-loss risk, i.e. High Risk, Medium Risk, and Low Risk – determined by an analysis done by the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

  • The High Risk Industry Working Group focused on Accommodation, Food, Tourism, Construction, Real Estate, Recreation, Retail and Transportation and is headed by Dana Young, President & CEO, VISIT FLORIDA.
  • The Medium Risk Industry Working Group focused on Administrative, Education, Information & Technology, Manufacturing, Mining, Utilities and Wholesale and is headed by Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran.
  • The Low Risk Industry Working Group focused on Agriculture, Finance, Government, Healthcare, Management and Professional Services and is headed by Senate President Designate Wilton Simpson.

The Governor requested a report on short term recommendations from the task force by April 24 and staff of the Governor’s Office of Policy & Budget (OPB) continued to work on the report’s recommendations this past weekend.