MIAMI, Florida – Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez ordered the closure of restaurant dining rooms and gyms to stop the spread of COVID-19 following a reopening in May.

“I am signing an emergency order that will close restaurants (except for takeout and delivery services), along with ballrooms, banquet facilities, party venues, gyms and fitness centers, and short-term rentals,” Gimenez said in a release. “These closings, among others that will be included in the order, will be effective Wednesday, July 8, 2020. We want to ensure that our hospitals continue to have the staffing necessary to save lives.”

“We are still tracking the spike in the number of cases involving 18- to 34-year-olds that began in mid-June, which the County’s medical experts say was caused by a number of factors, including young people going to congested places — indoors and outside — without taking precautions such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing,” Gimenez added.

“Contributing to the positives in that age group, the doctors have told me, were graduation parties, gatherings at restaurants that turned into packed parties in violation of the rules and street protests where people could not maintain social distancing and where not everyone was wearing facial coverings. “

Last week, Miami-Dade County ordered the closure of casinos and strips clubs, the Miami Herald reported.