Ft. Myers, Florida group with a brief breakdown of 6 foot social distancing. Careless! Paul Goldfinger photo. © Click to enlarge.

Eileen keeps a safe social distance away on a chilly Fla morning, Paul Goldfinger photo. © 2/20.

Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net

a.    The Governor of Florida has expanded his ruling about visitors from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.  In addition to his requirement that travelers from those states who arrived up to three weeks ago must self quarantine for 14 days, he now has passed an order, enforced with misdemeanor charges, that any such visitor must inform anyone with whom direct physical contact has occurred in past 21 says.   They must tell such contacts that they come from an area where COVID-19 is very prevalent.  Of course, it will be difficult to enforce this in Florida.

Miami Patch quotes:

“Speaking on the first day of his order requiring all incoming air passengers from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to self-quarantine, Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis noted the virus has likely been circulating in the New York area for three or four weeks. The order to report and self-quarantine, to some extent relies on travelers to answer honestly and follow the rules.

“The problem for Florida is we have a lot of interaction back and forth between the New York City area and the state of Florida,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “So you had people probably, unwittingly at the time, be there within the last couple of weeks and then come to Florida.”

“Under the Governor’s expanded order, which was released Tuesday night, people who traveled from the New York City area to Florida — at any time during the last three weeks — must self-isolate and report the close contacts they’ve had in the state of Florida.”

“The Florida governor’s expanded order requires travelers “to inform any individual in Florida with whom they have had direct physical contact in the past 21 days that they traveled from an area with substantial community spread.”

“Violations will be treated as second-degree misdemeanors punishable by up to a $500 fine and up to 60 days in jail. The document directs all state, county and local law enforcement officials to enforce the order.”

b.  The commercial fishing industry is hurting because restaurants are closed. This could result in a seafood shortage in food stores.

c. NJ Governor closes some day care centers. They only want the children of essential workers to be present in such centers. And they will enforce strict procedures.

d. Some more COVID-19 testing stations are opening in Central Jersey Urgent Care outlets in Howell, Marlboro ,and Eatontown.  You will not be tested if you have no symptoms. Their testing capacity is limited, and the one that opened at PNC on GSP had to quickly close due to crowds s few days ago.

e. Corona deaths as of today, 2 in Monmouth and 4 in Ocean counties.

f.  New York State has 32,000 cases, half in NYC.  There are 8 1/2 million people in the 5 boroughs, so for anyone who lives in the crowded city there is a significant risk of carrying the virus compared to other places, so the Governor of Florida is correct.

And, as noted yesterday, the Federal Government says that New Yorkers must self-quarantine no matter where they go out of state, not just Florida.   Connecticut is on the list, but they have few cases and cannot be compared to New York. Maryland and Hawaii are doing the same thing with quarantine. Alaska will quarantine anybody who arrives from any  state.

BILLY JOEL  “A New York State of Mind.”

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