On Monday, March 23rd, Governor Ron DeSantis signed an executive order requiring those who travel to Florida from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to self-isolate for 14 days upon entering the state.
Apparently, it wasn’t being enforced.
According to Click Orlando, passengers on a Frontier flight from LaGuardia were met by an airline representative when they reached Orlando Int’l Airport on Tuesday. The representative announced the mandatory quarantine for all passengers. Each passenger was handed a four-page packet from the Florida Department of Health, which requested contact information.
As per passengers, the representative said someone would meet them as they exited the jetway, collect their info packets, ask if they had a fever and tell them to self-quarantine for 14 days.
There was no one to meet them.
From Tuesday morning to early afternoon, passengers on other planes from the New York tri-state area said the same thing happened. No one met them and there were no officials seen anywhere at MCO that whole time.
So they left.
A spokesperson for the airport said that by mid-afternoon Tuesday, the airport had begun funneling planes arriving from NY, NJ and CT into the international arrivals area so they could be screened.
I guess the ones who were on those earlier flights lucked out.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Governor DeSantis announced he was expanding his original March 23rd order. Effective Wednesday, March 25, anyone who has traveled from any of those three states in the past 3 weeks must self-isolate for the next 2 weeks (some reports are saying 3 weeks) and identify the people they’ve had contact with since their arrival in Florida and inform them they may have been exposed to the virus.
But if you traveled from JFK to MCO 3 weeks ago, haven’t you passed the typical quarantine period???
Anyway, he didn’t mention how he plans to implement the expanded order.
He also still has no plans to put the entire state on lockdown, despite there being close to 1700 active cases in the state. Because Florida.
*** Thanks to Michael G.
*** Feature photo courtesy of Orlando Int’l Airport/Twitter
#stayhealthy #stayathome #washyourhands
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
1 comment
DeSantis is an idiot. He had every opportunity to close down the beaches for spring break and slow the spread of the virus but instead chose to sit on his hands. A governor needs to make tough decisions, not make suggestions that everyone knows won’t be followed. It’s like having a suggested speed limit with no enforcement mechanism.