Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference from his office in Tallahassee, Florida. New York State issued a shelter in place order, but he feels that a Shelter in Place order for Florida would not be advisable or practical. He claims it would be a very blunt instrument. He is afraid of hundreds of thousands of Floridians loosing their jobs. My feeling is that everyone should be more concerned about loosing their lives.
DeSantis seems to feel that this virus is not something that is affecting every part of the state. He outlined some counties that have low cases of Covid-19 but the fact is, that without testing, no one knows how many cases are out there. He feels that a massive shutdown of the entire state would not work. The issue of non-compliance is a concern. He sees instances of people in NYC and California being non-complaint and thus he seems to think Floridians are incapable of practicing self isolation. He sees it as impractical for a State Governor to enforce a shelter in place order.
Like President Trump, he seemed concerned more about people’s mental health and suicide rates if they have to isolate to stay safe and alive. As Donald Trump said on Twitter, “We can not make the cure worse than the problem”. Or restated, “The benefit of keeping people alive is not worth the cost to the economy.” The problem however is a viral death rate with unimaginable numbers if the problem is ignored. This can not be overlooked. The skewed thinking on this issue amazes me. There is no option to go back to life as normal after 14 days. The United Kingdom ordered a country wide lock down for 3 weeks, which seems like a more sane approach to try and stop the spread of the virus. However, here in America, the President seems intent on ignoring science and getting the economy back up at any cost. His medical advisor, Dr. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was absent at a White House press briefing today. He has been the one voice of reason on how to stop the spread of the virus but his blunt comments are rumored to have rubbed the president the wrong way since science doesn’t line up with the president’s lies.
DeSantis seems to follow the president’s mantra. DeSantis said he will work with all the metro areas, but decisions about public health have to come from Municipal and County Governance. So the president passed the buck to state governors, and this state governor passed the buck to city mayors. Any benefit of a lock down might be overwhelmed by people coming to Florida. On the day of his address there were 190 direct flights from the New York area to Florida. Those people may be fleeing a shelter in place order issued in that state. Given the situation in New York, it is very possible that there is someone on every flight who has the Covid-19 virus. The Federal Government is doing nothing to restrict domestic flights. DeSantis insisted that anyone coming from New York or a similar hot spot must do a mandatory self isolation.
The bottom line is that Ron DeSantis feels it is impractical to lock down a state with no end in sight.
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Local county and city officials in Central Florida were waiting for Governor DeSantis to issue
some kind of shelter in place order, and when they realized it was not
coming, they decided to protect their citizens with their own orders
and proclamations. Orlando City Mayor Buddy Dyer along with County Mayor Jerry Demings and the leaders from the municipalities in Orange
County have instated a “Stay at Home” order for all residents, and
all non-essential businesses will be closed, which includes most
retail, recreation, and entertainment businesses, starting this Thursday
March 26, 2020, at 11 p.m., and
continuing for two weeks through April 9, 2020.
“This means you should stay at home, unless it is
absolutely needed – like shopping at the grocery store, going to a
doctor’s appointment, providing necessary care for a family member,
visiting a restaurant for a takeout order or going
outside to exercise, all while keeping six feet between you and
others.
You should not go to work unless you are providing essential services that are defined in
this order. Visits to family members or friends should be limited to
those who need medical or other essential assistance, such as ensuring
an adequate supply of food or medicine.
We know that this order will impact the
livelihood of residents, our local businesses and our region’s economy.
But the health of our community is our top priority and we must do
everything that we can to protect the lives of our family
members, friends and neighbors.
It is our goal that through aggressive action we
will help minimize how many people in our community are impacted by
this virus, and then how quickly residents and businesses can recover
emotionally and financially.”
This is a challenge unlike any we’ve seen before, but I know that Orlando is up to it.
Stay home, stay safe.
