Two Florida mayors urge residents to wear masks at home

by Marty Johnson - 07/23/20 10:05 PM ET

Two Florida mayors who govern Miami and Miami-Dade County encouraged their residents on Thursday to wear masks inside to lower the transmission rate of COVID-19 between family members.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) explained that while the city’s number of daily new cases is down, the virus is still being spread easily through households, as multigenerational households are commonplace in Miami.

“I would tell our residents — and this is voluntary, this is not something that we can mandate — that they should consider, particularly if they have a multigenerational household, wearing masks indoors at times with their multigenerational residents and also respecting social distance when they’re at home,” Suarez told reporters.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez (R) had a similar message at his own press conference.

“Because we have such a high level of positivity rate here in Miami-Dade, you also need to start thinking about maintaining a distance also from your loved ones for a while,” Gimenez said. “Yes, I know It’s a sacrifice, but do so because, again, just because it’s your son or your daughter or your cousin or your mother or your father, doesn’t mean they don’t have [COVID-19].”

With the surge of the coronavirus pandemic, Florida has quickly become one of the epicenters of the virus in the country; Miami-Dade has been one of the hardest-hit counties.

The county reported more than 2,700 new cases Thursday, bringing its total number of cases during the pandemic to nearly 100,000.

Florida overall had another grim day Thursday, reporting 10,273 new cases and 173 deaths, a record.