JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — Florida bars are getting the blame from state and some local leaders for recent spikes in COVID-19 cases.
Gov. Ron DeSantis is decrying people “hanging from the rafters” like it’s “dance party USA.”
The City of Jacksonville is stepping up its enforcement of social distancing guidelines.
The consequences include fines or liquor licenses being pulled.
David Villmow at V Pizza says they started taking additional measures like requiring some employees to wear masks and gloves as well as additional cleaning once a week since March.
A vendor comes weekly and uses a vaporized solution that kills 99.9% of all germs and viruses including COVID-19, according to Villmow, director of operations for the V Pizza restaurants.
Villmow says communication between the city and businesses is critical.
“The more communication we get from them, the more we can communicate back and forth to our stores so everyone is on the same page to keep everyone safe,” Villmow said.
He says the city’s code enforcement agents have been periodically checking their store and others, making sure businesses are following Phase 2 reopening guidelines.
It's an effort the city is increasing this week.
On Wednesday, we told you about dozens of complaints for bars and restaurants since the start of the pandemic.
Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation says it received 71 complaints for bars and 52 complaints for restaurants between March 18 and June 22.
Those complaints came from businesses in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns Counties.
We reached out to the City of Jacksonville to get specific numbers, but we did not hear back at our deadline.
Villmow said he feels that businesses can control what they do within their boundaries.
“I get that we’re encouraging people to social distance, (but) the reality is we’re not police officers or code enforcement officers, so if we see a bunch of people out there, do they want us to go out and break up groups? That’s not quite our prerogative. What we can do is encourage people to act responsibly while they’re in our stores,” Villmow said.
No complaints were filed at V Pizza’s locations, where they continue to follow guidelines daily.
“The more info that comes out on the virus, the more we know how to combat it … What we know is we’re doing every single precaution we can take to slow the spread of this thing, and that’s the most responsible thing we can do right now,” Villmow added.
We reached out to the state DBPR for specific names of businesses reported, and we are waiting to hear from them.