NEWS HEALTH Florida will check NY motorists at state line on I-95, DeSantis says The governor also announces that an anti-malaria drug promoted by President Trump will be made available to hospitals in large counties, including Hillsborough.
By News Service of Florida Published Yesterday
• • •
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday announced the creation of an Interstate 95 checkpoint on Florida’s northern border to screen motorists traveling from the New York City area, in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Saturday’s announcement came a day after DeSantis said he was setting up a similar checkpoint in Northwest Florida, targeting travelers from Louisiana.
The I-95 checkpoint is an expansion of screenings already underway at certain Florida airports aimed at people coming from the tri-state area around New York City, one of the nation’s “hot spots” for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the viru
DeSantis also used Saturday’s news conference at the Capitol to announce that Florida is working to make a hydroxychloroquine, a low-cost generic malaria drug, available to hospital systems in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange and Hillsborough counties.
“I’m not a doctor. I’m not telling anyone to take it or not take it,” DeSantis said. “But I do believe in the idea of a right to try. If somebody is really in bad shape and there is no other treatment available and the doctor believes this is something that could be helpful, then we want that patient to have access to that.”
The governor’s staff said the hospital systems have requested the drug, which President Donald Trump recently touted as a possible COVID-19 cure. Federal health officials have said more study is needed on the efficacy of the drug as a treatment for COVID-19.
DeSantis’ call to make the drug available to highly populated counties in the state comes as the Florida Department of Health reported Saturday there are 4,038 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state. More than a quarter of the cases are in Miami-Dade County.
As of Saturday evening, 56 people in Florida have died from COVID-19, according to health officials.
The checkpoint announcement came a day after DeSantis expanded a 14-day self-isolation order for people arriving from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to include travelers from Louisiana.
Florida officials on Saturday were operating a checkpoint on Interstate 10 west of Pensacola, with all non-commercial motorists detoured to a vehicle weigh station where license plates and driver’s licenses were checked and motorists were asked about their travels.
“Initially I was concerned about doing this because I don’t want there to be a backup,” DeSantis told reporters at Saturday’s press conference. “But they’re doing it in a great way where the trucks are going through. We’re not worried about that. We’re just worried about the people fleeing some of those areas.”
DeSantis said he spoke with Trump, who on Saturday said he is considering imposing a quarantine on New York, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Whatever works, I think we need to do,” the governor said. “There is a lot of logistics involved and I think the president can figure that out.”
Trump, a close ally of DeSantis, told reporters Saturday that he is considering a two-week quarantine for the northern states.
"We'd like to see New York quarantined because it's a hotspot. New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places, certain parts of Connecticut, quarantined," Trump told reporters, adding “we might not have to do it, but there's a possibility that sometime today we'll do a quarantine.”
As of Saturday, there were 119,748 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., with nearly half of the cases — 52,318 — in New York state, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center. New York City had 29,766 cases, according to the New York State Department of Health.
In an effort to deter travel from New York City, the Florida National Guard and public health officials have been screening travelers on flights from the metropolitan area coming into airports in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Palm Beach, as well as Southwest Florida.
Saying the screening is working, DeSantis told reporters that a person whose symptoms of COVID-19 had abated was showing signs of the respiratory disease again, following a flight Friday from New York to Jacksonville.
“He was intercepted when he came to the checkpoint and he was diverted to go a hospital,” DeSantis said. “That’s something I think helps protect Floridians.”
The individual and people that were seated near him on the plane are now being treated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DeSantis’ aides said.
The name of the airline and the hospital where the individual was taken were not released.
DeSantis, who has faced criticism from Democrats and local officials for not issuing a statewide stay-in-place order, said his goal in targeting certain travelers is to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, an effort health officials call “flattening the curve” of the disease.
“I think it’s in everybody’s interest that we deal with the spread that we have here now, try to blunt it, flatten the curve, but we don’t allow importing new infections,” the governor said.
Asked about other access points for motorists — such as U.S. 1 and the Amtrak Auto Train, which stops in Sanford — DeSantis said I-95 is the “natural one” for motorists from the Northeast.
“I think having the (Interstate) 10 and (Interstate) 95 is good, that provides the protection,” DeSantis said.
Talked with a friend this afternoon who lives way up in NW Montana, not far from Bonners Ferry, ID, who said that a bunch of folks from California, NY and other places have rented and moved into the avilable summer vacation cabins & houses for the next 6 months. The locals are not happy.Not happy at all.Tar & feathers & a rail?
All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void. � Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (2 Cranch) 137 (1803) NRA LIfe Member GOA SAF CCRKBA
Talked with a friend this afternoon who lives way up in NW Montana, not far from Bonners Ferry, ID, who said that a bunch of folks from California, NY and other places have rented and moved into the avilable summer vacation cabins & houses for the next 6 months. The locals are not happy.Not happy at all.Tar & feathers & a rail?
Many native Floridians think this should have been 50+ years ago! memtb
You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel
“I’d like to be a good rifleman…..but, I prefer to be a good hunter”! memtb 2024
Northern Michigan town leaders have asked their summer residents not to come. Not so much for the spread of the contagion (I'm sure that's part of it), but also that it would overwhelm the small hospitals in the area.
While I completely agree with De Santis and Florida, they are treading awfully close to a violation of Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of The Constitution.
With The Constitution being trashed in general right now, that'll probably go unchallenged.
I'm from NewYorkistan and I don't blame him. There was a talk of isolating people from the Northeast because it's a hot bed,and our govenor had a hissy-fit.
141,000 cases in the US, 60,000 in NY. Stay home Yankee...
Yep
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
Checkpoints allowing "commercial" traffic to breeze right through, as though a CDL driver can't be carrying the virus, but stopping cars and running plates and DLs?
What next? 'Old man, sign zee papers"?
Not only the commerce clause, but what about equal treatment under the law?
Geno
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)