DeSantis supports Trump's plan to quarantine New York
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By AREK SARKISSIAN
4 minutes
TALLAHASSEE — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis onSaturday said he
would support plans by President Donald Trump to quarantine New York
City in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Florida, saying the
city's still-operating subways have become a Petri dish for the virus to
spread.
DeSantis said during a news conference livestreamed from the state
Capitol that he spoke with Trump earlier Saturday about a new type of
virus testing that provides results in minutes. Trump then brought up
the topic of quarantining New York City.
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“My issue is, whatever works,” DeSantis said before quickly
expressing frustration about New Yorkers who he said were evading
shelter-in-place restrictions by coming to Florida.
“How is it fair to them to just be air dropping in people from the
hot zones, bringing infections with them and seeding the communities
with new infections that they’re trying to stamp out?” DeSantis said. “I
just think it’s bad policy to have people dispersing from there, and
then seeding in other parts of the country, including the state of
Florida.”
Trump on Saturday told reporters outside the White House he could announce a large-scale, two-week quarantine of New York and the surrounding area later in the day.
“We might not have to do it, but there’s a possibility that sometime
today we’ll do a quarantine — short-term, two weeks for New York,
probably New Jersey, certain parts of Connecticut,” Trump told
reporters.
DeSantis has already sent the National Guard to screen New York passengers at seven Florida airports.
The guardsmen direct each passenger to self-quarantine for 14 days and
take information that’s handed over to local authorities for follow-up.
And the Florida Highway Patrol is now setting up a screening checkpoint
on Interstate 95.
“You can’t go to a state park because you may transmit COVID-19, but
you can have one of these super-spreaders, sneezing and coughing for two
hours and then just get off and that’s fine," DeSantis said. "It’s just
absolutely ridiculous."
The screening at airports has reduced the number of flights from New
York, but an all-out restriction would help, DeSantis said. New York
City has diagnosed 29,000 people withthe virus. DeSantis lamented thatthe city is still allowing its subway system to operate. The city has reduced service, resulting in reports of packed trains.
“They’re packed like sardines on there, and look, that’s their city
and they can do what they want,” he said. “But a fact of the matter is
that some of the people on that subway may be getting on these flights
and coming into very close contact with some folks.”
DeSantis later fired back at Democratic lawmakers who are demanding
more stringent statewide restrictions. His light-handed approach of
leaving those decisions to counties and municipalities is working, he
said. DeSantis has received criticism for being slow to close beaches and bars to spring break crowds in his state.
“Do you hear about those same people complaining about the New York
City subway system being open?" he said. “I mean, give me a break.”
As of Saturday morning, there were 3,763 people diagnosed with coronavirus in Florida, and 54 people have died, according to a state Department of Health website.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida is among the states with the most diagnosed cases so far.
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