State and local officials are pausing or reversing plans to reopen public life as the coronavirus pandemic surges in parts of the country that previously seemed to be trending in the right direction.

Carlos Gimnez, the Republican mayor of Floridas Miami-Dade County, the states largest, announced on Monday that he would close restaurants, gyms and other facilities. Last week, he shuttered entertainment venues including casinos, cinemas and strip clubs and instituted a curfew as Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) closed bars, theaters and gyms, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) shut down bars and indoor dining in most of his state. The governors of Mississippi , New York , Delaware , New Mexico , Nevada , Maine , New Jersey and Washington have recently postponed plans to lift limits on normal life.

The pattern shows how fragile a respite from the virus can be. And it highlights the toll of mixed messages from the federal government and from President Donald Trump himself over how to handle the pandemic, down to basic measures like requirements to wear masks in public. Some Republicans who once resisted mask mandates, like Ducey and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have reversed course as their states hospitals have filled up. But after months of a culture war over enforcing mask-wearing and taking other steps to contain the virus, the turn toward restrictions and re-closures could be coming too late.

On July 4, Trump falsely claimed 99% of cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, are totally harmless. At least 130,000 Americans have succumbed to the fast-spreading infection.

There was a real urgency when we closed down then we reopened and it was as if, OK, were OK, Dale Holness, the Democratic mayor of Floridas Broward County, which is home to Fort Lauderdale, told local television station WPLG on Monday. I think were disjointed in terms of messaging from different parts of our government. Thats sad.

After starting to reopen many businesses in May and beaches soon afterward, Florida has become the worst-hit state in the country, with over 200,000 cases of COVID-19; on Saturday, it reported the U.S.s highest-ever increase in cases in one day.

Floridas Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, is a close Trump ally who has challenged calls for a more serious lockdown in his state and echoed the presidents argument that Democrats and reporters are exaggerating the seriousness of the pandemic. Florida officials are now struggling to implement contact tracing, a key measure to rein in the virus, a CNN investigation showed on Monday.