Miami Beach declares state of emergency over large gatherings of spring breakers

Miami Beach on Saturday declared a state of emergency over concern about a large number of spring breakers gathering in the city.

The new measures are 'essentially purposed to reduce the number of people' coming to the area to combat Covid-19, said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber during a news conference on Saturday, reported The Hill.

He also announced an 8 pm curfew in the Entertainment District and a restriction of east-bound traffic on city causeways, which will be available only to residents and hotel guests.

The measures went into effect at 9 pm ET (6:30 am IST) on Saturday (local time) and will remain for 72 hours.

Meanwhile, Gelber said he will hold an emergency meeting with the City Commission on Sunday to address the measures, The Hill reported.

Miami Beach's interim City Manager Raul Aguila said Saturday that he's received emails from businesses that have voluntarily closed or don't want to open due to the crowds.

Last week, police had to disperse a crowd of about 200 "unruly" spring breakers, who had surrounded by an intersection, with pepper balls. The Miami Beach Police Department said at the time that several people were detained and two officers were injured.

As of Saturday morning, there have been at least 1,999,249 cases and 32,650 deaths in Florida since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, there has been an average of 4,485 cases per day, it reported.

( With inputs from ANI )