Pressure builds for total lock-down in Florida over coronavirus

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As cities and states around the nation order residents to stay at home to limit the spread of coronavirus, Gov. Ron DeSantis is resisting pressure to implement a similar lockdown in Florida.

Florida has been hard hit by the coronavirus, with more than 1,200 cases. States with fewer cases already have issued stay-at-home orders. But DeSantis said Monday that such an order “would not be advisable,” even as Florida municipalities begin to issue their own orders.The city of Miami Beach approved a stay-at-home order Monday.

“It would be a very blunt instrument,” DeSantis said Monday of a statewide stay-at-home order, which also is referred to as a shelter-in-place order. “When you’re ordering people to shelter in place you are consigning a number – probably hundreds of thousands of Floridians – to lose their jobs, you’re throwing their lives into potential disarray.”

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DeSantis made the case for protecting jobs in areas with low numbers of coronavirus cases, arguing they would be unnecessarily harmed by a statewide stay-at-home order. He noted that many of the state’s coronavirus cases are in South Florida, especially Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

“If that were something that were necessary statewide, because the health comes first, that would be one thing,” DeSantis said of a stay-at-home order. “But if you look at Florida’s situation right now, this is not a virus that’s impacting every corner of the state. We have 20 counties that have zero cases at all and we have about 25 counties that really have only a few cases… so if you’re looking at that, somebody who has a job in a place where there’s no positive test anywhere in the county, the chance of transmission is probably very, very small there. Much different calculation than if you’re in Miami or Broward. So I think it would be inadvisable to consign that person to real hardship if we honestly don’t believe that it would advance the public health.”

Some Florida officials are concerned that the number of coronavirus cases could quickly spiral out of control and overwhelm the health care system without more aggressive measures.

The state Department of Health reported 214 new cases Monday, bringing the statewide total to 1,227, including 21 cases in Sarasota County and 15 in Manatee County. Sarasota Memorial Hospital announced Monday it is treating two new coronavirus patients, bringing the total at the hospital to eight.

The DOH also announced five more deaths Monday from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The statewide death toll is now up to 18.

Ohio, Louisiana, Delaware, Michigan, and Oregon all issued statewide stay-at-home orders Sunday or Monday, mirroring actions already taken by California, New York, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey. Cities such as Philadelphia also as have ordered residents to stay home.

"It's time we do absolutely everything that we can... the lesson of history time after time has been if you don't do these things early enough you pay the price and the price you pay is a lot of people dying," Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday in announcing the stay-at-home order.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried — the only statewide elected Democrat — said Friday that DeSantis should order Floridians to stay at home.

“Shutting down one of the nation’s largest states is a decision that will have an economic impact — but it is a decision that will save lives,” Fried said in a news release.

Florida lawmakers raised the issue Sunday during a conference call with the governor’s top staff.

State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, tweeted that she was among several lawmakers who pressed state officials about a shelter-in-place order Sunday.

“We will keep asking,” she wrote.

State Rep. Ben Diamond, D-St. Petersburg, tweeted Monday that “This virus can be stopped, but it will take bold and decisive public leadership.”

Diamond added that DeSantis “needs to order all Floridians to 'stay at home.’”

But DeSantis said such an order may be difficult to enforce, and could have unintended consequences.

“The fact of the matter is, a governor is not going to start imprisoning people just because they leave their house, so you’re going to have a lot of noncompliance,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis said people left New York state when a stay-at-home order was issued there, and many are fleeing to Florida.

“For every action there’s a reaction, so we’re going to consider what would make sense for Florida,” the governor said.

No order is going to completely stop people from gathering, DeSantis added.

“It’s like a water balloon,” he said. “You impose a restriction, that water goes somewhere else and they’re always looking to do whatever they can to game the system.”

DeSantis also announced Monday that he is issuing an executive order requiring airline passengers from New York and New Jersey to self-isolate for 14 days upon arriving in Florida.

New York has the most coronavirus cases in the nation and was one of the first states to issue a stay-at-home order.

States with stay-at-home orders still allow residents to move around, but generally limit what people can do to exercise, grocery shopping, medical appointments and other essential activities. Businesses deemed nonessential are forced to close.

DeSantis has lagged behind what other states have done to limit the spread of coronavirus, closing restaurant dining areas across Florida nearly a week after many states took that step.

The governor has not closed most nonessential businesses statewide, although he did sign an executive order with more sweeping business closures in Palm Beach and Broward counties, which have been harder hit than most. Miami-Dade County took the step on its own to shutdown nonessential businesses.

DeSantis said he wants to continue to work with local governments to tailor restrictions to individual communities.

“Here’s the bottom line for me on this,” the governor said. “I’ll work with all of our metro areas... work across municipal and county lines if there’s an agreement about what would make sense for that region to help stop the spread of COVID-19. I’ll be there to work with you and we can get something enacted, but clearly some of these policies would not be appropriate in many of our counties that just simply have not seen much of this virus.”

Some Florida communities are moving ahead with their own stay-at-home orders.

The order adopted by Miami Beach Monday “instructs members of the public to remain in their homes except to go to work, exercise outdoors, seek medical or veterinary care, provide care to family members, shop for groceries and pet supplies, or abide by law enforcement or court orders,” according to the Miami Herald.

Other municipalities in the Miami area are expected to adopt similar orders soon.

Hillsborough County officials debated issuing a stay-at-home order Monday but decided not to move forward right now. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is pushing for the order.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman also is calling for a statewide stay-at-home order, saying his city and others around the state “are likely to move forward on their own” if DeSantis does not act.

“A statewide, uniform, reasonable order limiting non-essential movement and activity will better protect Floridians and prove far more effective at flattening the curve than multiple policies among 67 counties and hundreds of cities and towns,” Kriseman said in a statement. “Only Governor DeSantis can mitigate inconsistencies and confusion by ordering Floridians to 'stay at home’ as soon as possible.”