With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in South Florida, some people are curious to know which businesses are and are not following the rules aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
Now, Broward County wants to help get the word out.
The county launched an online dashboard Wednesday on its website.
Visitors to the site can now see whether a complaint has been filed claiming that their favorite restaurant, hair salon, gym or other establishment is breaking the rules established last month by the county commission.
The dashboard will be updated every hour at 36 minutes past the hour with the latest data, according to Leonard “Lenny” Vialpando, deputy director of the county’s Environmental Protection & Growth Management Department.
The status of the complaint will be indicated by color: Red means the business was cited. Orange means the establishment received a warning. Gray means the complaint is pending an inspection. Yellow means the case has been resolved.
If you see a business not following CDC guidelines report it to 311. Your complaint will be logged and investigated by your local code enforcement or law-enforcement officers. For a list of complaints, #Broward has developed this Dashboard. Check it out. https://t.co/FOVufkffLQ
— Broward County Commission (@browardinfo) July 1, 2020
In addition, Broward Mayor Dale Holness is encouraging residents to call 311 in order to report potential violations at businesses throughout the county.
Businesses could be in trouble if they do not enforce social distancing, allow too many people inside, or do not require workers and customers to wear masks.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the county had received 1,945 such complaints.
Code enforcement officers in the respective municipality of the business conduct the follow up.
“We are requesting the cities follow up within 24 hours of receiving a complaint,” Vialpando says. “If someone contacts the city directly, we ask them to upload that information to the dashboard as well.”
If a complaint is found to be invalid, the name of the business will be removed from the dashboard, he adds.
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