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MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - An epidemiologist and some Florida lawmakers are urging the Florida governor to enforce a statewide stay-at-home order and shut the state down to prevent thousands of more people from dying due to the coronavirus.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said repeatedly he does not think it is necessary to shut down the entire state of Florida.
“To order someone not to be able to earn a paycheck when them going to work is not going to have any effect on what we’re doing with the virus, that is something that I think is inappropriate,” DeSantis said.
However, scientists and other Florida lawmakers are adding pressure to the governor to shut the state down.
Epidemiologist Dr. Ali Mokdad, who worked on a coronavirus model cited by the White House, told Florida’s top officials Monday night the governor should issue a stay-at-home order, forcing the closure of non-essential businesses and mandating social isolation for the entire state.
Mokdad said he expressed his concerns to State Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, and under his model, around 6,000 people could die in Florida as a result of COVID-19.
“I told them that we would like these measures to be in place because we have seen that they are working somewhere else,” Mokdad said. “I tried to convince him that when a governor says stay at home, people tend to listen more.”
Based on his projections, Mokdad said at the pandemic’s peak, Florida could be short hundreds of intensive care unit beds, and areas like South Florida would be hit the hardest.
“I would expect Miami to be more impacted,” he said. “It’s more crowded than any other part of the state.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., criticized the governor’s response to the virus during a teleconference.
“As we speak, we see his lack of urgency with the governor’s egregious refusal to close our public beaches still,” she said. “Now, we see it again with Gov. DeSantis’ refusal to issue a statewide stay-at-home order.”
Mokdad added that the measures he wants the governor to implement would be similar to those in place across South Florida, where the majority of the state’s cases are.
When asked if the projected deaths in Florida would increase if the state did not implement the measures, Mokdad said, “It could, yes. I’m wishing that Florida, as the whole state, will enact the stay-at-home and shut down non-essential businesses.”
DeSantis said that Florida is a diverse state and does not believe there needs to be a statewide lockdown during a Tuesday afternoon news conference. However, he said he would take recommendations from the federal government into account.
“No matter what you do, you’re gonna have a class of folks who are going to do whatever the hell they want to,” DeSantis said Tuesday.
President Donald Trump also brushed off the idea of a statewide shutdown of Florida, Tuesday.
Officials at the Hard Rock Stadium coronavirus test site on Tuesday said they reached their daily testing capacity at around 2 p.m.
Just under 500 people were tested at the site before crews had to close for the day, officials said.
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