Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, on Monday announced a mandatory self-quarantine on all travelers arriving by plane from the New York City area, due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in the city.
“I would reckon that given the outbreak there, that every single flight has somebody on it who is positive for COVID-19,” DeSantis said. The governor will sign an executive order to impose the measure, which will allow police to fine travelers who break quarantine.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, on Friday announced a statewide near-total lockdown, ordering all workers to work from home except for essential services. Statewide, 20,875 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed, with 12,305 in New York City alone, making the city an epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S. According to DeSantis, the lockdown drove many people to fly to Florida.
“If you look at what happened in New York, when they did the stay-at-home order, what did people do?” DeSantis continued. “Well, a lot of people fled the city…. We’re getting huge amounts of people flying in.”
DeSantis told reporters he had repeatedly asked President Trump to impose restrictions on domestic travel, apparently to no avail. The Trump administration has so far imposed various restrictions on international travel from Europe, China, and across the U.S.’s northern and southern borders to stem the spread of the illness.