On a record-setting day for new reported deaths in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis pointed to better trends for emergency room visits and fatality rates at a press briefing Thursday.
“We would love to have zero deaths,” he said at Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. “If we could do that – we want as few as we can.”
Florida had 173 reported deaths Thursday, along with 10,249 new cases, bringing the state to a total of 389,868 cases and 5,518 deaths. But as he has with each near-daily press briefing, the governor sought to reassure Floridians and portray the pandemic as under control.
He again pointed out that deaths reported on a particular day can be from the previous few weeks and said emergency room visits for viral symptoms have plunged since early July.
“We’re trending much better today than we were two weeks ago,” he said. “I would much rather be in a plateau than being an escalation.”
DeSantis also tried to regionalize the outbreak, as he had during the initial phase in March and April.
“If you take out South Florida, the rest of the state is trending even better,” he said. “Although I do think South Florida, you know, it’s definitely stabilized.”
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He said he has no plans to impose statewide restrictions on businesses over coronavirus-prevention measures.
“We’re not going to restrict the businesses,” DeSantis said. “I think if you look at the spread, it’s not really deriving from businesses as much as it’s deriving from home outbreaks and then family and friends. And that’s just the reality.”
In a statement, Senate Democratic Leader Audrey Gibson responded, “Clearly our state is headed in the wrong direction as COVID-19 numbers indisputably show. … It is well past time for the governor to issue a mandatory, statewide face-covering requirement and cease the conflicting messaging of social distancing versus masks. It is not either/or.”
DeSantis also said Florida may convert some government-run operations to be priority testing sites to get faster results to people who are more at risk.
DeSantis also urged people who have survived infections to donate blood and plasma.
“So if you have the capacity and the wherewithal to do that, we would really appreciate [it],” he said. “… On many of our drive-thru test sites that have antibody tests. You will get out, get a result if you test positive, and within 15 minutes, you can go give blood. It’s a good thing to be able to do.”
slemongello@orlandosentinel.com
