#Miami mayor blames coronavirus spike on restaurants

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez blamed the city’s sudden surge in coronavirus cases on the lack of social distancing at recently reopened restaurants, according to a report.

“When we started opening up our restaurants, unfortunately I think society started to think that we were signaling the all clear,” Suarez said at a press conference Sunday, according to news station WPLG.

The mayor’s comments come after he was spotted last week at one of three crowded Magic City restaurants that were shut down for not following social distancing measures, the outlet reported.

But on Sunday, he vowed that the city would crack down on non-compliant restaurants and businesses.

“If we don’t act now, if we are not disciplined, this could get out of control,” Suarez said.

Suarez said Miami has seen an uptick in cases along with the rest of state, which was approaching 100,000 cases on Monday.

There have been at least 25,790 cases as of Sunday in Miami-Dade County, the report said.

“We are starting to see our hospital numbers tick up. We do know that the great majority of the new positives are the 18 to 35 demographic, but of course those people in that demographic go home and interact with their parents and grandparents and that’s a tremendous concern,” Suarez said.