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Marco Rubio On COVID-19 Crisis: 'I Don't Think There's Any Evidence That Restaurants Or Disney World Are Cause Of Surge'

(CBS Miami)-- After Monday's report of new coronavirus numbers, there are now over 282,000 cases of coronavirus in the state of Florida and over 67,000 in Miami-Dade County.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio addressed the state's battle with COVID-19 and several other topics on Monday morning in an interview with CNBC's Squawk Box. Senator Rubio was also specifically asked if he thinks Disney should close in Orlando due to the record surge in the state.

"I don't think there's any evidence that any of the businesses we are talking about closing are in any way driving the infection surge," said Senator Rubio. "I think the bottom line is what's happening is people are going out and particularly younger people and they're getting together. They're getting together in public spaces and getting together in each other's homes. When you are in close contact with someone indoors who is infected, they're going to infect you and neither one of you may have symptoms, but both of you could go home and infect your parents or grandparents in another setting."

"I don't think there's any evidence that restaurants or Disney World, which is an outdoor setting, or beaches or parks are the cause of this surge. "The surge is coming from people behaving like people. That's what makes a virus like this so problematic, it asks us not to do what comes natural to us,"said Senator Rubio.

When asked about Florida schools re-opening in the fall, Senator Rubio told CNBC that the state is going to have to get creative with how it rolls out a plan for students and parents.

"Florida is an enormous state, it has 67 counties," said Senator Rubio. "I spent over a week now in northwest Florida, where the vast majority of counties could re-open because they're not facing this. In many of our counties, the answer to that question is yes we could, in others I think we're going to have to take additional measures to able to re-open schools. We need to be flexible about all sorts of things. It isn't going to be school the way we're used to in normal times. At some point, you have to make those decisions on a cost benefit analysis.

Senator Rubio went on to say the cost of not re-opening schools could be extraordinary for parents and students.

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