Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday his state didn’t “shut everything down” because of the COVID-19 crisis, and in fact ramped up construction projects during the outbreak, calling the lockdown at theme parks a “temporary closure.”
In an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” DeSantis said on Monday he’ll announce a “small step” toward reopening shuttered businesses, retail stores and state parks.
“The way Florida approached this even though our hospitalization and infection and fatality rates are much lower than many of these other big states — particularly in the Northeast and Midwest — we did not necessarily shut everything down.
"I had construction going, we had a lot of retail that was open, I actually accelerated road projects because the traffic was down so places like Orlando, Tampa, Miami we accelerated and surged workers, and we're able to knock out a whole bunch of stuff in a very short period of time,” he said.
He also said Disney and other theme parks are making “great plans to come back safe.”
“This is a temporary closure,” he said of the theme parks that draw millions. “I think they've already been making great plans to come back safe. … Through the middle of March and it was under-the-radar, a lot of people don't know but they were doing … safety precautions. It was so well thought out, and to this day, we really haven't been able to tie any outbreaks back to those theme parks.”
DeSantis said Monday will be an important day.
“Tomorrow is going to be a small step. I think it's going to be a measured step,” he said. “I think it's going to be an important step for people of Florida to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, we're going to follow a safe, smart step by step approach to Florida's recovery. We're going to follow data and facts but we are intent on moving forward to be able to get the society on its feet again….It's not going to be like turning an on and off switch but tomorrow will be an important first step.”
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