DeSantis holds strong in continuing to reopen the state despite rise in coronavirus cases

Reporter: Dannielle Garcia
Published: Updated:
Governor DeSantis speaks at news conference in Miami, Florida on June 19, 2020. (WINK News)

Florida broke another coronavirus record Friday. The state reported 3,819 new cases.

Over the past week, we started at about 75,000 cases and are ending just under 90,000 — an increase of about 15,000 cases. At this rate, we’ll pass 100,000 in our state next week.

The governor defended the surge Friday. He made it clear that he does not get upset or anxious over the daily report of coronavirus cases. As usual, he pointed to increased testing but Friday, he emphasized the median age of those who tested positive.

DeSantis echoed his familiar theme: Florida will not shut down the economy again and he’s not going to issue another safer at home order.

“We have far fewer people that are hospitalized for COVID in the ICU today than when we were under more stringent mitigation. That’s just the fact,” he said.

But the governor issued a warning of sorts to people ages 25 to 54 — COVID-19 hasn’t gone away.

“But I think we’re starting to see some erosion in social distancing found probably in some of the younger population. So the Department of Health is going to be launching some public service announcements reminding folks,” he said.

DeSantis said the median age of people testing positive continues to fall from the 60s in March to 37 on Friday.

When pressed whether he would consider a state-wide mandate on wearing masks, he quickly said, “Our view has been, you know, to attach criminal penalties would not necessarily be the right thing to do.”

However, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, sitting in the same room with the governor, is doing just that.

In response to the increase in positive cases, Mayor Carlos Gimenez announced this week police and code enforcement will crack down on people who fail to social distance or wear masks indoors.

“Maybe the younger folks don’t think that it’s quite as important and so we’re going to be cracking down on that here,” Gimenez said.

DeSantis said he instructed the Department of Health to release public service announcements reminding Floridians to wash their hands, keep their distance and wear a mask when distancing isn’t possible.

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