Florida governor wants state declared a disaster area

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Ron DeSantis asked President Donald Trump to declare Florida a disaster area, saying the coronavirus outbreak is having a “drastic effect” on the state’s economy and medical providers.

DeSantis wrote in a letter to Trump released late Monday that Florida’s “hospitals, medical facilities, and first responders are facing challenges rarely experienced before.” and the state has already spent $208 million on related unemployment assistance, food stamps, disaster loans and mental health counseling.

Such a declaration would make Florida eligible for federal aid. This is no hurricane, but DeSantis wrote that the state’s medical system is already burdened and the situation will get worse, with limited testing showing more than 1,400 people infected and 17 deaths.

“The process of triaging and isolating affected individuals is significantly disrupting lifesaving and life sustaining services,” DeSantis wrote. “Additionally, the insufficient medical resources and capacities of medical facilities, and the already limited number of qualified medical personnel will only continue to rapidly deplete as the impacts of COVID-19 continue to spread.”

DeSantis added that a survey of more than 6,600 businesses shows more than half have laid off employees, totaling more than 40,400 people. He also said requests for unemployment benefits have spiked, to 130,000 in four days last week, compared to 28,000 for the entire previous week.

Trump has not yet acted on the request.

The Florida Department of Health announced Tuesday that a baby boy and a 2-year-old girl have tested positive for COVID-19 in Broward County.

The Miami Herald reports that the health department’s data list the boy’s age as zero, making him the youngest person in the state known to be ill with the disease.

Health officials listed both cases under “unknown” for travel-related and did not state whether either child had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.

Broward health department officials did not respond to requests for information about the cases.

The girl is second 2-year-old girl in Florida to test positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, some of Florida’s harder-hit municipalities ordered all their residents to shelter-in-place on Tuesday after DeSantis argued against a statewide order and blamed people flying in from New York and New Jersey for potentially spreading the coronavirus.

Officials are restricting travel on the only two roads leading into the Florida Keys from the mainland. Monroe County announced Tuesday that southbound traffic stops will be in place near the county line on U.S. 1 and on State Road 905 by early Friday. The stations are meant to reinforce the island chain’s previous closure to visitors and non-residents.

The “Safer at Home” order went into effect Tuesday morning for Miami Beach residents. Other Miami-Dade County municipalities, including Bay Harbor Islands and Bal Harbour Village, issued similar orders Monday night.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said Tuesday he is issuing a stay-at-home order for the county that includes Orlando. The order goes into effect on Thursday.

Gainesville and surrounding Alachua County, where the 36 confirmed cases include college students returning from Spring Break, also issued “stay at home” orders on Monday. Gainesville is the home of the University of Florida and a community college. All schools in Florida are closed.

“People should only be outside for exercise and attending to their necessities like shopping for groceries or visiting a pharmacy,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said in a statement. “It won’t be like this forever, but for now in a community like ours this makes the most sense.”

Company officials said Tuesday that they are extending the closure of Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood through April 19. The company had originally planned the closures through the end of March.

DeSantis issued an executive order Monday requiring anyone arriving on a flight from the New York City area to self-quarantine for two weeks. State officials did not immediately return calls Monday evening seeking information on how many of those diagnosed in Florida recently arrived or returned from New York or had contact with someone who did.

The virus causes only minor flu-like symptoms in most people, who recover in a matter of weeks. But it is highly contagious and can cause severe illness or death in some, particularly the elderly and those with underlying health problems. Severe cases are often only able to breathe with respirators, stressing the health care system’s capacity to respond.

Still, DeSantis said Monday he wants to avoid imposing a statewide lockdown like California, New York and other states have done, because he still believes focusing the most extreme measures on counties hardest hit by the virus is preferable.

About half the state’s reported COVID-19 cases are in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. But testing remains limited and has yet to show any cases of the virus in a third of Florida’s 67 counties. Another third have reported only a few.

“It would be a very blunt instrument. When you’re ordering people to shelter in place you are consigning a number – probably hundreds of thousands of Floridians to lose their jobs,” DeSantis said.

Some Florida Democrats are calling on the Republican governor to impose a statewide stay-at-home order, but DeSantis said states that have done so have seen large numbers refuse to comply. He said such people realize ”a governor is not going to start imprisoning people just because they leave their house.”

DeSantis has ordered such statewide closures as bars and gyms, and limited restaurants to takeout and delivery. State parks have been closed. But some counties have gone farther, closing not only nonessential businesses but also beaches, marinas and some other public areas.

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Spencer reported from Fort Lauderdale. AP reporters Freida Frisaro and Kelli Kennedy also contributed to this report from Fort Lauderdale.

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