Florida Coronavirus Update: Governor Ron DeSantis Wants Seniors, People With Medical Conditions To Stay Home
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - Governor Ron DeSantis wants people age 65 and older and people with serious medical conditions to stay home for the next two weeks, as Florida continues to fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus.
"Folks who are 65-plus are the ones that have the best chance to suffer a negative outcome, and that's disproportionately so when you talk about fatalities," DeSantis said. "We want to make sure those folks are protected."
DeSantis said state Surgeon General Scott Rivkees will issue a health advisory about people 65 and older and people with serious "underlying medical conditions" staying in their homes. The serious conditions include such things as chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, serious heart conditions, severe obesity and people in cancer treatment.
"I think that that's important as well because as we've seen, the folks who may be under 65 who have suffered real serious hospitalizations or even death (from the coronavirus) have been people that usually have had a serious underlying medical condition," DeSantis said.
The governor also said he would expand guidance about banning large gatherings. He said social or recreational groups would be limited to less than 10 people, including in homes. In addition, DeSantis said he is directing "non-essential" businesses to promote telecommuting, with a goal of at least 50 percent of the businesses' workforces telecommuting.
Also, after speaking earlier in the day with Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, DeSantis said he will expand a Monday night executive order requiring travelers flying into the state from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to self-isolate. The expansion will include people who flew into Florida from those areas in the last three weeks.
DeSantis said he is trying to prevent people in coronavirus "hotspots" from fleeing those states -- and their shelter-in-place requirements --- and coming to Florida.
To ensure compliance with the executive order, DeSantis said he dispatched members of the Florida National Guard to busy Southeast Florida airports as well as Orlando International Airport.
"When the individuals come in, they are asked to provide information to the guardsmen, they receive the information about what they need to do in order to self-isolate," DeSantis said, explaining how the directive has been implemented. "They have contact information on who to contact should they be symptomatic. We are going to continue to do that."
DeSantis said it's his goal to deploy members of the Florida National Guard to smaller airports across the state to ensure compliance with his order.
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