Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attacked the Biden government on Thursday after media reports that the White House may seek to ban domestic travel to contain new strains of COVID-19 from spreading across the country.
“Any attempt to restrict or block Florida by the federal government would be an attack on our state, made solely for political purposes,” the Florida Republican told a news conference.
“It would be unconstitutional. It would be reckless and unfair,” he added, saying the move was not based on science, but rather a “political attack” on the people of Florida.
SEN. RUBIO LIGA BIDEN HYPOCRITIC OFFICERS FOR CONSIDERING TRAVEL PROHIBITION DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was pressured during a news conference on Thursday about the government’s alleged consideration of a ban on domestic travel.
“We are always considering what measures are needed to keep the American people safe, but we are not in the process of – no decision has been made on additional public health measures that would delay or change, I should say, domestic travel considerations,” said Psaki.
Florida relies heavily on tourism, which means that any attempt to prevent interstate travel can have major repercussions in the State of the Sun.
But, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Florida leads in the number of cases of the new strain B.1.1.7 – a more highly infectious variant of coronavirus, first reported in the UK
Health officials are concerned that the new strains of coronavirus that have emerged may hamper the progress made by the vaccine, as the new variants require different treatments and change “the effectiveness of current vaccines,” warned the CDC.
But DeSantis pointed to the progress the state has made since the summer, when Florida was experiencing an increase in the number of cases.
“Florida per capita cases compared to the rest of the country – 28,” said DeSantis, adding that 27 other states were worse off than Florida in the number of coronavirus cases reported since early December. “Fatalities per capita, in the same period, Florida ranks 42nd,” he continued.
DeSantis also praised the state’s high vaccination rate, especially among the elderly.
“We are reporting about 1.6 million elderly people who have been shot, that is about 35 percent of our huge elderly population,” said DeSantis on Thursday. “We are number one in photos for the elderly.”
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The Florida governor’s objection to the travel ban is a reversal of his stance from last year, when he enacted a two-week quarantine for individuals from states with high infection rates, such as New York.