Restaurants in Florida

Restaurants in Florida can resume serving customers at pre-pandemic levels under an order prepared Friday by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Virtually all other COVID-related restrictions on restaurants and bars in the state are also being lifted. The changes take effect once DeSantis signs the order, which he promised to do during a press conference today.

DeSantis took the additional step of prohibiting county and local governments in Florida from imposing their own restaurant capacity limits if those areas see a surge in new COVID cases. Under the order, other restrictions cannot be imposed on eating and drinking establishments without a formal justification based on health or economic concerns. Even with such a justification, restaurant capacity cannot be reduced below 50% of capacity.