FL Governor Asks President Trump To Test Some Airline Passengers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday defended his delay in issuing a stay-at-home order, while calling on President Donald Trump to order some airline passengers from Latin America to be tested for the new coronavirus before being allowed to enter Miami and other U.S. cities.

Holding a joint press conference with the president in the Oval Office, DeSantis said he will announce the "next step forward" for reopening Florida on Wednesday as about half of his state's coastal counties have already given the OK for limited beach access. Such access generally means no sitting in chairs, sunbathing or being among large groups of friends.

DeSantis pointed to an influx of travelers from Brazil and other Latin American countries in requesting that some travelers be tested.

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"I think Brazil and some of those places which have a lot of interaction with Miami, you're going to probably see the epidemic increase there as their season changes," DeSantis said. "We could be way on the other side, doing well in Florida, and then you can just have people kind of come in."

He pointed to the availability of Abbott's rapid coronavirus test as a possible mechanism for airlines to carry out the passenger testing.

"If you have some of these international flights, maybe some of these airlines, it should be on them to check before they are getting on and coming to this country," DeSantis said. "There should be something like that."

DeSantis continued to blame much of Florida's outbreak on New York travelers. The governor had ordered Florida National Guard members to Miami International and other major Florida airports to screen passengers from the New York area as well as people coming in from other hot spots. He also ordered checkpoints along Interstate 95 and other roads carrying traffic into the state.

Trump agreed that he may order some people entering the United States to be tested for the new coronavirus before boarding international flights and possibly requiring them to wear masks.

"We're probably going to be doing that," the president said. "Brazil has pretty much of an outbreak, as you know. They also went another way than other countries in South America. If you look at the chart, you see what happened unfortunately to Brazil."

According to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker, as of midday Tuesday, Brazil has 68,188 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Total cases in the United States reached 1,003,328 by Tuesday afternoon.

Florida reported a total of 32,846 confirmed cases of the virus Tuesday.

The president said he recognizes that South America has a number of important business relationships in Florida.

"We're looking at it very closely, and we're in coordination with other governors also, but in particular with Ron," Trump said. "It's certainly a very big thing to do in Florida because you have so much business from South America."

The president said the United States is working with airlines to set up a testing system of some sort.

Asked by a reporter about JetBlue becoming the first airline to require its passengers to wear masks, Trump responded: "It sounds like a good idea."

DeSantis defended his delay in issuing a stay-at-home order and insisted that Florida has fared better than many places, including the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois.

"I'm not criticizing those states, but everyone in the media was saying Florida is going to be like New York or Italy, and that has not happened," DeSantis said. "We understood we have a big, diverse state. We understood the outbreak was not uniform throughout the state, 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."

He said Florida had fewer than 500 people on ventilators in a state of 22 million as of Monday night.

"I have 6,500 ventilators that are sitting idle, unused throughout the state of Florida," DeSantis said, adding 85 percent of the state's 1,171 deaths in the state have been of people 65 and older.

Larry Kudlow, the president's economic adviser, spoke about the nation's deepening economic contraction along with rising unemployment.

He said the president has asked officials to study middle-class tax relief, regulatory relief, infrastructure developments and insurance liability protections for small business.

"I think people are anxious to go to work. There's going to be a lot of pent-up demand," Kudlow said. "I am optimistic for the future."

The president predicted the economy will rebound by the end of the year.

"I think the fourth quarter is going to be incredibly strong," he said. "I think next year is going to be an incredibly strong year."

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