Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Saturday that the White House should consider restricting domestic travel from states that are seeing a rapid increase of cases of Coronavirus. DeSantis says that people traveling into Florida has made it difficult to contain in his state.
DeSantis made his remarks Saturday at the Emergency Operations Center, where people entering were asked if they had been to New York, California, or Washington state in the last 14 days.
As of early Saturday, 70 people had tested positive and there had been four deaths.
DeSantis spoke just after Trump announced an expansion of the European travel ban to the UK and Ireland, and said he was considering other domestic travel restrictions.
“We’re working with the states and we’re considering other restrictions,” Trump told reporters at the White House Saturday.
Just after midnight on Saturday, Florida officials announced another 25 cases, prompting a ban on all visitors at nursing homes and elder facilities.
The state Department of Health is hiring more epidemiologists to track the spread of the virus. Renewal deadlines for driver’s licenses and professional licenses have been suspended for the next 30 days.
The state also has ordered 2,500 kits that can quickly test 625,000 people for the coronavirus. DeSantis on Friday said he had asked the national guard to help process the tests.
