MAITLAND, Fla. — Florida has been in Phase 3 for a week now.

Orange County, however, still has its own local mandates in order despite the state’s announcement, and it’s causing confusion for some business owners.

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. DeSantis moved Florida into Phase 3 reopening in September

  • Orange County says its mask mandate and task force are still in effect 

  • Demings: Task force merely informs businesses when they are not following CDC guidelines

There’s no other way to put it for Orlando Bar Group co-owner Logan Berkowitz. Due to the pandemic, business has been in the basement.

“It wasn’t good," he said. "We weren’t paying bills, we were behind every week, we were behind every month.”

When Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Florida was moving to Phase 3 reopening, that was good news for Berkowitz, but it came with some confusion.

“It’s super confusing," Berkowitz said. "When your governor comes out and tells you there is no mask mandate, and the governor tells you there is no social distancing, but the county comes out an hour later with a press conference and says masks are still mandatory, our customers have no clue what to do.”

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings weighed in on what his task force can now do following the governor's announcement.

“They simply inform the business that you are not complying with the CDC guidelines and here is what you can do,” Demings said. 

According to the Enzian Theater in Maitland, since the theater reopened it's had an average of 25-50 guests per showing. A theater spokesperson said, for now, they were sticking to the county’s mandates.

“As far as we are concerned, we are going to continue all of the protocols we have in place," said Enzian Theater spokesperson Janie Pope. "Until we feel our patrons are ready for something different, we don't see a reason to change just yet.”

All protocols and decisions are ones they have made internally.

“We are more concerned with making sure that when guests do come to Enzian they feel comfortable," Pope said.  "We want guests to feel safe and for them to genuinely enjoy the experience, we would rather do that at 50 percent capacity.”

Other venues like bars have made their own decisions.

“We are gonna recommend that they wear masks, the county still has a mask mandate," Berkowitz said. "When guests come inside we would like them to wear a mask, but if they choose not that is their decision.”