FL National Guard greets NYC fliers with this message: ‘Isolate yourself for 14 days’
As Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a policy targeting people traveling to Florida from the New York metropolitan area, Stephen Moosbrugger, who lives in the Upper West Side, was flying to Miami.
Panic has risen to a peak in New York City, he said, with constant announcements from Mayor Bill de Blasio and health officials warning not to venture outside.
“It’s like a nuclear holocaust,” said Moosbrugger, 64, who was traveling Tuesday to stay with his wife in their Miami Beach apartment. He said there were only about 10 other people on the American Airlines flight, which was otherwise relatively normal.
That is, until the plane landed at Miami International Airport and a Florida National Guard soldier got on board to inform passengers that they were instructed to self-isolate for 14 days, governor’s orders.
DeSantis’ Tuesday order requires that anyone traveling from New York City to Florida or who has traveled from New York City in the last three weeks must self-isolate and report the contacts they’ve had with anyone in the state. Violating the order is a second-degree misdemeanor, and could result in a $500 fine or 60 days in jail
“After the stay-at-home, shelter-in-place order was issued, you started having a flood out of New York City, taking hundreds of flights to the state of Florida,” DeSantis said during a press conference in the Capitol in Tallahassee. “Those flights became the hottest ticket ... It is mostly South Florida, but we saw 30-40 flights direct to Orlando.”
Members of the Florida National Guard were deployed at Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, where they collected information from visitors coming off flights from New York City, including an address for the residence in which they will be self-isolating. Those visitors will receive advice on how to self-isolate and contact numbers for county health departments in case they become symptomatic.
Eventually, this practice will be expanded to other airports, DeSantis said.
Information provided by visitors will be shared with local communities “to make sure they’re keeping an eye on folks who very well may be infected,” DeSantis said.
“Most folks are going to be compliant, but there is teeth to hold someone accountable if they don’t,” he said.
Soon after DeSantis’ order, almost verbatim language came out during a White House briefing.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said anyone who has left New York should put themselves into quarantine for 14 days. She even endorsed DeSantis’ policy by name, which requires travelers from New York City to share their information with the Florida National Guard and self-isolate.
“Like Gov. DeSantis has put out today, everybody who was in New York should be self-quarantining,” she said.
New York’s outbreak
New York City is being treated as a COVID-19 hot spot. Birx said that about 60% of all the new cases in the country were coming out of the metro New York area.
As of Tuesday morning, New York State had 25,665 cases, with at least 157 deaths. There were around 15,000 cases in New York City alone. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the number of new coronavirus infections in New York is doubling about every three days, and said the state projects that it may need as many as 140,000 hospital beds for patients. As of now, only 53,000 are available, the New York Times reported.
Ronnie Hollington, 45, dressed in a heavy-duty mask, boots and black surgical gloves, waited in Miami for his daughter’s mother to arrive from New York.
He hadn’t left his house in a week except to stock up on necessities at Walmart.
“I’d rather not be here,” he said, but noted he felt safer that the flights weren’t full. “Because no one is here, it’s not so bad. I feel safer.”
Moosbrugger said he knows Miami isn’t much better in terms of risk of infection, but the panic was not quite at the level he experienced in New York.
He added that Miami is warmer, with “more space” so it was “more logical.”
In sync with White House
At the press conference, DeSantis sounded cool and collected. He echoed a number of talking points that came from the White House, mainly the idea that measures like self-isolation and business closures shouldn’t last much longer than President Donald Trump’s originally recommended 15 days. That time period ends Monday.
“Let’s get through the 15 days, and there will be some type of pivot. We’ll look to see what happens there,” DeSantis
said. “I want to get back as soon as possible ... the effects of people out of work ... no one is really talking about that.”
He noted that 21,000 unemployment claims were filed Monday alone.
Trump says he wants the country to “open back up” by the April 12 Easter holiday, despite public health experts and local and state leaders cautioning against easing restrictions too early.
“We’re going to really look to the president and what his team puts together,” DeSantis said. “You have some people who say this virus is much ado about nothing. Then you have people who say we just have to lock down, it may be nine months. I think both of those are false choices.”
DeSantis’ most drastic move was made Monday, when he made it a criminal penalty for anyone on flights from New York, New Jersey or Connecticut to violate the quarantine order. The order applies to all people whose points of departure originate from those areas.
Cases mounting
Meanwhile, the state’s number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to rise.
The Florida Department of Health Tuesday night announced 55 additional positive COVID-19 cases, bringing the state total up to 1,467 cases, including a baby boy and a 2-year-old girl in Broward County, the state’s youngest cases.
Health officials also announced two more deaths, raising the death toll statewide to 20. The deaths occurred in Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg and Clearwater, and Lee County, home to Fort Myers.
Of the new cases, 49 are Florida residents while six are not. In the state, 16,046 tests have been completed, and 1,221 are still pending.
Samantha J. Gross reported from Tallahassee and Bailey Lefever reported from Miami.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 4:05 PM.