Following weeks of documented acts of residents deliberately not adhering to the rules of social distancing and self-quarantine, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has finally put his foot down. Earlier today, the governor issued a statewide stay-at-home order for all Florida residents for at least 30 days—beginning April 2nd.
After widespread footage of spring breakers and local residents flocking to Florida beaches, parks and streets, calls for Governor DeSantis to shut the state down began to increase even more than they had before. @NBCNews reports, that DeSantis changed his mind after viewing Trump’s recent press conference where he extended the national stay-at-home order until April 30th in an effort to continue to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
DeSantis explained that the order would limit movement within Florida unless residents are outside their homes pursuing “essential” services or activities. Florida currently has the fifth most coronavirus cases of any state in the country, recently reporting nearly 7,000 cases and 87 deaths, according to the local health department. When Florida surpassed 5,000 cases, DeSantis still refused to shut the state down, while other states with similar high numbers issued immediate lockdowns.
DeSantis had previously dismissed residents crowding the beaches, saying “These are our neighbors who may need to go out there, clear their head.” However that attitude changed as the state’s cases continue to rise rapidly and he stated that “it makes sense to do this now” and admitting that he took Trump’s recent extension as a “signal” that it also needed to be done in Florida.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
