Oh, Facebook. Capable of pulling a fast one over hundreds of thousands of people with just a single post.
It’s time to put things right.
There’s a post on Facebook that came out on April 1st. MAYBE the guy who posted it meant it as an April Fool’s joke? I dunno. But if he did, he never said so. Anyway, here it is:
PC: Twitter
And please note that it had A HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR THOUSAND shares.
There was another meme that came a few days later as a result of that one. I wish I could find it again, but I’ve searched everywhere and just can’t. It said something to the effect that if you were from NY, NJ or CT, you couldn’t enter the state of Florida. They would turn you away at the border. I distinctly remember at least two friends posting it and questioning the legalities of it.
The thing is, neither one of those memes are true.
Here’s what really happened
As coronavirus began rearing its ugly head more and more, some places were hit harder than others. Very early on, the New York tri-state area was hit particularly hard. As a result, on March 23, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, issued an executive order that required those who traveled to Florida from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to self-isolate for 14 days upon entering the state. On March 27, he included people from Louisiana, since New Orleans is struggling so much with the virus, as well.
As per the CDC, these types of orders are legal.
But there was never a mandate that only Florida residents and commercial truck drivers could enter the state. No one ever said that people from NY, NJ, CT and LA couldn’t cross the border into Florida.
And you should always take what you see on Facebook with a grain of salt. And research, research, research.
#stayhealthy #stayathome #washyourhands
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
1 comment
There are some parts of Florida off limits to outsiders, so maybe the error was made by combining different new stories. There are checkpoints on the highway from Miami leading to the Florida Keys, for example. But they are discriminating against all nonresidents equally, not just those from New York.