Miami Police Officers Will Write Tickets To People Not Wearing Masks

As new cases of coronavirus continue to rise across the country, officials in Miami, Florida, are taking a tough stance against people who defy orders to wear a mask while in public. To help enforce the mandate, the Miami Police Department is deploying 39 officers to patrol the streets to hand out tickets to anybody who is not wearing a mask.

The fine for the first and second offense is $100. Anybody who is ticketed a third time will be given a notice to appear in court. Any business that does not follow the mask mandate will be fined $500 and could lose its license.

Officials said they made the decision to crack down on people not wearing masks after speaking to officials at local hospitals.

“The hospitals are telling us that we have the capacity in this moment to not shut down the economy as long as you do this — as long as you enforce masks,” Miami Commissioner Ken Russell said.

There have been more than 92,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County and more than 1,300 deaths.

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