BROWARD COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR'S

EMERGENCY ORDER 20-31

WHEREAS, COVID-19, a respiratory illness caused by a virus that spreads rapidly

from person to person and may result in serious illness or death, constitutes a clear and

present threat to the lives, health, welfare, and safety of the people of Broward County;

WHEREAS, on March 1, 2020, Governor Ron Desantis ("Governor Desantis")

declared a Public Health Emergency as a result of COVID-19, and on March 9, 2020,

Governor Desantis issued Executive Order 20-52, declaring a State of Emergency as a

result of COVID-19;

WHEREAS, on March 10, 2020, I declared a Local State of Emergency; on

March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 to be

a global pandemic; and on March 13, 2020, President Donald Trump declared a national

emergency concerning COVID-19;

WHEREAS, to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the United States Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") recommends implementation of community

mitigation strategies to increase containment of the virus;

WHEREAS, on March 10, 2020, the Broward County Board of County

Commissioners authorized me to take any appropriate and necessary action to protect

the health and safety of Broward County residents and visitors in connection with

COVID-19, and other emergency powers, including under the state-approved emergency

management plan, were previously delegated to me (including as further outlined below);

WHEREAS, since March 2020, I have issued a series of Emergency Orders

designed to curb the spread of COVID-19, including Emergency Orders prohibiting certain

Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 1 of 8

establishments from operating and imposing regulations on those establishments that

were allowed to operate;

WHEREAS, on September 25, 2020, Governor Desantis issued Executive

Order 20-244, advancing the State of Florida into Phase 3 of the state's reopening and

preempting local governments from issuing any emergency order that "prevent[s] an

individual from working or from operating a business";

WHEREAS, pursuant to Executive Order 20-244, all establishments in Broward

County are permitted to operate, subject to reasonable operational restrictions to prevent

further spread of the COVID-19 disease;

WHEREAS, since the issuance of Executive Order 20-244, the State of Florida

and Broward County have seen an increase in the spread of COVID-19, with recent

surges arising from the gatherings customary during the Thanksgiving holiday, and such

surges are anticipated to continue and even increase due to the lengthier year-end

holidays, additional winter tourism, and the gatherings that occur in connection with both;

WHEREAS, testing data and contact tracing indicate that key drivers of COVID-19

spread are young adults who congregate indoors late at night for prolonged periods of

time at restaurants, clubs, and house parties, often with lax social distancing and where

eating and drinking are used as an excuse to sidestep facial covering requirements, and

then return home and introduce COVID-19 into a household;

WHEREAS, the impact of this high-risk activity of young adults partying late at

night is borne by the rest of the community, as these young adults transmit infections

picked up during the late-night activity to children, parents, and grandparents at home;

Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 2 of 8

 WHEREAS, even apart from the risks posed by COVID-19, the December holiday

season presents risk for increased trauma-related hospital usage and insufficient hospital

staffing levels;

WHEREAS, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport estimates

approximately 940,000 passengers will fly into or through Fort Lauderdale over the 14-day

period from Monday, December 21, 2020, through Sunday, January 3, 2021;

WHEREAS, adequate hospital and ICU capacity must be preserved so County

residents and visitors requiring hospital or ICU care, whether for COVID-19 or other acute

health issues, are able to access that care; without adequate capacity available , including

both physical facilities and necessary staffing, hospitals will be unable to provide required

care for County residents and visitors, whether for COVID-19 or for other emergency

health needs;

WHEREAS, to underscore the rationale for the action taken by this order, I have

been informed that, as of December 22, 2020, all 133 ICU beds operated by the Memorial

Healthcare System in Broward County are occupied;

WHEREAS , the December 6, 2020, State Report from the White House

Coronavirus Task Force confirmed Florida is in the "red zone" for new cases and for test

New Cases in Florida Res id ents by Day - Broward County

■ New COVID- 19 Cases - 7- Day Aver-age

2000

1500

~ 1000

500

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Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 3 of 8

positivity, hospital admissions for patients with confirmed COVID-19 rose 15% in the week

following Thanksgiving, and the three counties in Florida with the highest number of new

cases are Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties, including as demonstrated

by the compilation of the Florida Department of Health data presented by Florida Atlantic

University in the graphic below:

WHEREAS, despite existing containment measures, the test positivity in Broward

County has consistently exceeded the CDC's 5% threshold and has recently been

exceeding the CDC's 8% threshold, which places on-site instruction in schools outside

the "lowest" and "low" risk categories and into the "moderate" and "higher" risk categories

as defined by the CDC;

WHEREAS, it is critical to the health and welfare of Broward County residents that

the test positivity rate remain low enough to permit continued on-site school instruction;

WHEREAS, the prospect of widespread availability of the COVID-19 vaccine,

while encouraging, is still several months away;

WHEREAS, the continued use of certain common-sense measures designed to

curb the spread of COVI D-19 continues to be necessary to protect the public health,

safety, and welfare of Broward County residents and visitors;

WHEREAS, the high level of social interaction with persons outside of one's

household during the winter holiday season, whether in commercial or residential

settings, presents heightened risk of virus spread, including due to the prolonged

interaction of people at a close distance and the inability to wear facial coverings while

eating or drinking;

Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 4 of 8

 WHEREAS, Miami-Dade County currently imposes a curfew during the hours of

midnight and 6 a.m., excepting only the hour between midnight and 1 a.m. on December

25 and January 1, and the high-degree of social integration between Miami-Dade and

Broward counties renders it highly likely that high-risk holiday celebrations prohibited in

Miami-Dade County during its curfew hours will relocate to Broward County;

WHEREAS, a curfew is necessary and appropriate at this time to protect public

health and welfare in Broward County;

WHEREAS, the purpose of a curfew is to discourage individuals from hosting or

attending late night parties, whether at commercial establishments or house parties, with

the heightened risk of virus transmission due to prolonged indoor proximity with persons

from outside the household, where music and holiday celebrations lead to singing,

shouting, or other forceful exhalations, social distancing is not consistently practiced, and

eating and drinking are used as continuing exceptions to the facial covering requirements;

and

WHEREAS, the minimally necessary exceptions to the curfew pose less risk of

virus spread and are specifically drafted to ensure nothing in the Comprehensive

Emergency Order prevents an individual from working, operating a business, attending a

religious service, commercial air, sea, train, or bus travel (departures or arrivals), or

participating in other necessary, protected, or low-risk activities with a one-hour reduction

in the curfew allowed for Christmas Day and New Year's Day to permit appropriate holiday

celebrations in smaller gatherings at or near home with family or close friends,

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bertha Henry, the Broward County Administrator, pursuant

to my emergency authority under Sections 8-53 and 8-56 of the Broward County Code of

Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 5 of 8

Ordinances, as well as the authority granted to me by the Declaration of Emergency

issued by Governor Desantis in Executive Order 20-52, by Chapter 252, Florida Statutes,

by the Board of County Commissioners, and by the Broward County Comprehensive

Emergency Management Plan, hereby order as follows:

Section 1. Recitals.

I hereby find and determine that the above recitals are true and correct and such

recitals are incorporated herein by reference.

Section 2. Comprehensive Emergency Order Amendments.

The Broward County Comprehensive Emergency Order ("CEO") is hereby

amended as stated in this section, which amendments shall be incorporated in the CEO

as of the effective date of this Emergency Order.

A. Amendments to the CEO.

Section 6.B of the CEO is hereby amended as follows (strikethrough text indicates

deletions, and underlined text indicates additions):

Section 6.B. Curfew Exceptions

The curfew shall not apply to active-duty police, fire rescue, and first responders; news media;
delivery and transportation drivers; government employees and government officials; persons
seeking emergency medical care; medical, health care, and utility service personnel; persons going
from their homes directly to their place of employment or returning directly to their homes from
their place of employment; persons walking their dogs or other pets within two hundred and fifty
feet (250) feet of their residences; persons traveling to/from any professional sporting event;
persons returning traveling directly te between their homes after commercial travel ending at and
an airport., er seaport, or a train or bus terminal in connection with commercial air, sea, train, or
bus travel or returning to their homes after one-way vehicular travel of more than 100 miles; or
persons traveling to/from any religious service.

8. Updated CEO Available Online.

An up-to-date version of the CEO inclusive of these amendments will be available

at https://www.broward .org/CoronaVirus/Pages/EmergencyOrders.aspx.

Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 6 of 8

 Section 3. Applicability; Severability.

This Emergency Order amends, supersedes, and replaces the applicable portions

of the Broward County Comprehensive Emergency Order (CEO) as indicated herein. All

portions of the CEO not modified herein shall remain in full force and effect. This

Emergency Order and the CEO apply to all incorporated and unincorporated areas within

Broward County, but have no application outside of Broward County. The provisions of

this Emergency Order and the CEO shall serve as minimum standards, and municipalities

within Broward County may establish more stringent standards within their jurisdictions,

to the extent permitted by law. Any provision(s) within this Emergency Order and the CEO

that (i) conflict(s) with any state or federal law or constitutional provision, or (ii) conflict(s)

with or are superseded by a current or subsequently-issued Executive Order of the

Governor or the President of the United States solely to the extent such Executive Order

(a) expressly preempts the substance of this Emergency Order and the CEO or

(b) imposes stricter closures than set forth herein or under this Emergency Order and the

CEO, shall be deemed inapplicable and deemed to be severed from this Emergency

Order and the CEO, with the remainder of the Emergency Order and the CEO remaining

intact and in full force and effect. To the extent application of some or all of the provisions

of this Emergency Order and the CEO is prohibited on the sovereign land of a federally

or state recognized sovereign Indian tribe, such application is expressly excluded from

this Emergency Order and the CEO.

Section 4. Effective Date; Duration.

This Emergency Order shall be effective immediately. This Emergency Order shall

expire upon the expiration of the existing State of Local Emergency, as same may be

Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 7 of 8

extended by subsequent ord_E;J llf119,Ermi,ration, unless earlier terminated by subsequent
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Broward County Emergency Order 20-31 Page 8 of 8