Officials in the Florida Keys say they plan to keep the area closed off to visitors through at least the month of May to protect residents from the coronaviurs.

Monroe County Officials made the announcement earlier this week in a statement saying:

“Because of the continued threat of COVID-19 in areas outside of Monroe County, not allowing visitors back to the Florida Keys will still be in place throughout May, and potentially longer given the state of the virus.”

While the lockdown remains in affect, officials say they are willing to relax some of the guidelines once they see that there have been no new cases or that rate of new cases has been trending down for at least two weeks.

The county also says that if cases begin to rise  after measures have been relaxed, they will be reimplemented.

Florida currently has over 29,000 cases of the virus and over 1,000 deaths. 

Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties all lead the state in confirmed cases. City officials in each of those counties say they are working together on a plan to slowly reopen the economy.