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Clearer picture of how Orange County will reopen
State and local leaders have been meeting for days, trying to figure out how to reopen the economy.
ORANGE COUNTY, FL - We still don’t know when the economy will reopen but today, we got a clearer picture of how it will reopen.
“Our business community is depending on us to get it right, as we prepare to engage socially and gradually, reopen locked and shuttered businesses,” said Jerry Demings, Mayor, Orange County.
Orange County leaders meeting today to build the framework of reopening the economy. The economic recovery task force, made up of a few dozen members, representing various industries. The first meeting, starting with a COVID-19 update.
“We believe that the peak is more of a plateau and in the last few days we’ve seen a bit of a decrease, a softening of that plateau but I want everybody to understand, we’re not seeing a significant drop yet,” said Dr. Scott Brady, Senior Vice President Ambulatory Services, Advent Health Central Florida Division.
County officials rolling out a preliminary plan to reopen business and lift social distancing restrictions. Following President Donald Trump’s guidelines, Orange County will also reopen in a three-phase process but instead of two weeks, the county will spend three weeks in each phase to ensure there is no surge of new cases.
“At the end of the three week, period a decision will be made, whether to move on to phase two,” said Roseann Harrington, Chief of Staff to the Mayor, Orange County.
The phases, range from low to high human interaction.
Phase One is low: restaurants, salons, dry cleaners and offices, essentially businesses that can maintain social distancing while operating.
Phase Two is medium: small venues and gatherings.
Phase Three is high interaction: theme parks, sporting events, concerts.
The task force charged with joining focus groups to address questions, such as bringing back tourism and enforcement.
“Every business has an input into how successful we are and so we have to have a component of compliance, how do we ensure they’re adhering to our guidelines,” said Harrington.
No date has been set on implementation of the first phase. The task force will meet again Tuesday, April 28, 2020.