Travelers heading into Florida from other states with high rates of coronavirus infection could face up to 60 days in jail if they don't self-quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned Monday.
“Given the New York City area is the number one hot spot in the world right now, when the New York governor instituted the stay in place order, we started noticing a huge uptick in traffic out of the city, many of them coming to Florida and so we view that as problematic,” the Republican governor said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
DeSantis hasn't issued a statewide stay-at-home order, but Monday, after his appearance on Fox News, the governor announced during a press conference at a Miami-area drive-thru testing sites that he would be signing an executive order that urges people in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, and Monroe counties to stay home through mid-May, reports The Miami Herald.
The “Safer At Home” order uses language from Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who last week ordered residents to leave home only for essential work or to pick up food and medication.
According to Florida's COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard, more than 5,400 COVID-19 cases have been reported, with 63 deaths.
“We can't prevent travel from an American citizen to our state, we understand that, but if we can tell them about self-isolation and request that they do that and if they comply, then I think we will be safer as a result," DeSantis told Fox News.
He also said he does not want to see people "dumped" into Southern Florida from a Holland American Line cruise ship carrying several people either ill or dead from coronavirus, given the rapidly growing numbers in the state.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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