Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday that Florida received specific guidance on how to respond to the coronavirus outbreak weeks before the governor issued a stay-at-home order.
Redfield told NBC's "Today" show that Florida and several other states were all sent guidance on how to respond to the coronavirus that was specific for each state in late February and early March.
"As Feb. 28 . . . as we got into March . . . we recognized the different areas that mitigation was now important," Redfield said Monday. "CDC sent recommendations to Washington, to California, to New York, and to Florida recommending that they expand mitigation in those areas."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stay-at-home order for part of the state March 30 but said at that time the White House coronavirus task force had yet to recommend a full statewide lockdown.
"I'm in contact with them, and, basically, I've said, 'Are you guys recommending this?'" DeSantis said at the time, according to The Hill. "The task force has not recommended that to me. Obviously, if they do, that is something that would carry a lot of weight with me."
The state has confirmed more than 20,000 cases of the coronavirus, with 470 dead as of Monday afternoon. The governor admitted during an interview with Fox News over the weekend that the number of confirmed cases is likely "just a small fraction of those who have actually had it."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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