Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hit back at a reporter who asked him about the criticism he has faced for not closing down his state as fast as other governors in response to the coronavirus.
“Yeah, well, what have the results been?” DeSantis replied during a visit to the White House on Tuesday. “You look at some of the most draconian orders that have been issued in some of these states and compare Florida … I’m not criticizing those states. But everyone in the media was saying that Florida is going to be like New York or Italy and that has not happened.”
As most states issued statewide lockdown orders starting in mid-March, DeSantis waited until April 1 to do the same in Florida.
The Republican was hit with sharp criticism after spring breakers flooded the state’s beaches and ignited fears the pandemic would spread out of control there.
“It’s another 30-day situation,” DeSantis said when he announced his lockdown order. “And we’ve got to do what makes sense.”
Florida has reported 32,000 cases of the coronavirus and over 1,000 deaths in the state, with a population of 21 million.
“We understood we have a big, diverse state,” DeSantis said, adding, “And we had a tailored and measured approach that not only helped our numbers be way below what anyone predicted but also did less damage to our state going forward.”
