Florida Governor Ron DeSantis May 22 Coronavirus Press Conference Transcript

Ron DeSantis: (00:00)
…To announce that effective immediately, Florida will be lifting all restrictions on youth activities, including summer camp and athletics. We believe that it makes sense, based on the data and observed experience. We are not going to be instituting a lot of rules or really any rules. The Department of Health will put some questions, that people have questions, they’ll have some Q and As put up, some other things, maybe some best practices, but at the end of the day, we trust parents to be able to make decisions in conjunction with physicians and community leaders and coaches, to be able to do these activities in a way that are safe. But I think our kids have been out of organized activities for a couple months now, and I think that we need to have a pathway to get it back.

When you look at how the virus has affected the state of Florida, here’s some interesting statistics. We in the state of Florida have observed zero fatalities under the age of 25 throughout the entire course of the pandemic. We have also observed more total fatalities for people age 90 or above than total fatalities for those under the age of 65. Let me say that again. Florida’s had more COVID fatalities over 90 years of age than all the fatalities under 65 combined. And so we obviously understand that this virus has a disproportionate impact on the elderly, and fortunately we’ve not seen anyone under 25 die due with COVID.

I think it’s also important to point out some of the things that we’ve now observed. When the whole pandemic started and the country moved into mitigation, the schools went to distance learning here in Florida and many other parts of the country. There was some known about it. I think it was pretty clear that kids were less likely to suffer serious clinical outcomes from this than elderly were. It really wasn’t known what role kids would play in terms of vectors of transmission. So I think there was a lot of concern that was understandable, that maybe the kids aren’t going to suffer generally negative outcomes, but maybe they can infect teachers or parents or whatnot. So the distance learning, I think, was premised on that. And it was basically using an influenza model. With influenza, if you have an outbreak, the kids in schools, they meet together, intermingle. It’s kind of a Petri dish. It can get spread and then they can be really major vectors for community transition of influenza.

I think what we’ve seen is that’s probably not exactly how this coronavirus has ended up working out. Now, it’s important to point out to folks that kids are not immune from this. I mean, some kids have been infected and some kids have ended up critically ill. There have been some, not a lot in the United States, who have died. I think, though, the data is pretty clear that for whatever reason, kids don’t seem to get infected at the same rates that some other adults get infected. And I also think it’s pretty clear, and CDC just put something out about this, that kids are at much less risk for hospitalizations than they would be during the typical flu season. CDC put out in its most recent update, kids are much less likely to be hospitalized due to COVID than at similar points in the influenza season. So that’s just something to put in perspective for folks.

And if you look at all the studies that have been done, in particularly a lot of countries in Europe, you have Iceland, you have Switzerland, you have the Netherlands, so look at Sweden and then Australia, even, has looked at this, that kids don’t seem to be major vectors of transmission. Most of the epidemiological investigations those countries have done in their studies have found that kids usually will get infected by adults. They didn’t find as many examples of kids infecting adults. And again, this is still a novel virus. You have the studies that are being undertaken. I think the evidence all points in that direction. And I would also note, we kept daycares open in the state of Florida. CDC had recommended that those be closed. I didn’t practically see a way that you could close daycares, given we have so many healthcare workers who rely on it, and we didn’t see any major problems with the daycares.

And so those are just kind of some of the data points that I think if you look at the experience in Europe, if you look at the experience in the United States, that we can say is really kind of the picture that we’re looking at here. So I think that a lot of parents are going to be interested in being able to have their kids be involved in activities, but at the same time, this is a parent’s decision. No parent is required to have their kid. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it, then don’t do it. And that’s fine. And I think that the parents are in the best places to make those decisions.

We are, I think, progressing well as a state overall. We’ve recorded the last five days, if you look at the percentage of tests that have been coming back positive in Florida, May 17th was 3.17%, 18, 1.87%, 5/19, .63% of all the tests came back positive. That’s over 99% coming back negative. 5/20, 2.44%. And then I think today’s positivity is something like 2.8%. So we’re really, really getting a lot of negative results, and the positive results tend to be in longterm care facilities, because we’re doing a big push to test there, in prisons, and then in some communities which are more close living arrangements. So there have been cases in Immokalee. There have been cases in Martin County, in some of those communities, but I think that’s been a pretty consistent pattern that we’ve been able to observe.

Since we entered phase one, the number of people hospitalized in the ICU with COVID, for COVID, has declined by 26%. Since we started phase one, the number of people on ventilators for COVID has declined 34%. So we appreciate those trends. Florida has now received over 815,000 test results reported to the state of Florida throughout this time period. And so that’s a testament to a lot of the folks who’ve been really working hard on that. PPE, we’ve now sent out with the Department of Emergency Management almost 27 million masks to hospitals and to longterm care facilities, almost 11 million gloves, 1.7 million face shields, over a million shoe covers. Then we send gowns, hand sanitizer, goggles, coveralls. So it’s been the biggest logistics mission in the history of the state. But I think it’s something that’s been very, very worthwhile, particularly with the longterm care facilities.

We were with Vice President Pence, I think yesterday or two days ago, delivering PPE. We have been delivering PPE for a while now, because we understood that if you can limit the transmission in the longterm care facilities, you’re going to have less people end up hospitalized, which I think is a really good thing. Since I instituted the quarantine of people coming from New York, we have screened almost 80,000 travelers, both by air and by car, who’ve left hot zones like the New York City area. And if you look at the analysis now, Florida was the number one place where people fled that hot zone, to come to the state of Florida. That quarantine, I think, deterred more from coming, but then limited the spread once it got here. And I think that that was really critical in reducing the number of infections and the number of casualties.

So I hope that this will be good for folks over the summer. Our view at the state level, and as I said, Department of Health will be putting out just some general FAQs and some general things to think about. But I really trust parents. I trust the physicians who work with the kids. I trust our local leaders. I trust the coaches and the people who are involved in these camps to really do things in a way that keeps people safe. I think that’s a much better approach than having the state government do a hundred rules for tennis camp, because you know what, it’s just some of these things don’t end up being very sensible at all. So with that, I’m going to turn it over to the mayor.

Have him say a few things. And then we’ll turn it over to Dr. White. Then we’ll answer a few questions.

Lenny Curry: (09:08)
Thanks, governor. Welcome back to Jacksonville. It’s good to have you here. We’re here at Austin Regional Park in Arlington, home of a golf course, skate park, dog park and police athletic league. So again, thanks for being back in Jacksonville with all of us. This announcement today is consistent with all of the announcements that have been made as it relates to our city. And that is the collaboration between the governor and his senior team, and me and my office directly. We have state Representative Yarborough, Daniels and Bird here today, who are always advocating to my office and to the governor’s office for all the things that we need to do to be safe and smart as we deal with this COVID-19 crisis. Just quickly, a word on youth sports. This is a really important announcement as we move towards the reopening. And to echo a number of things that the governor says, we have to deal with facts.

We have to deal with data. We have to deal with how this thing really spreads. And the information in the science that they have on young people, the mortality rates, et cetera. Look, I’ve got a number of parents that have been reaching out to me that I know, that have also been reaching out to my office, stopping me when I’m out in stores, I’ve got three kids of my own, 15, 14-year- old. And my youngest is in dance. My middle was getting ready to be in track when school ended. It would have been her second year in track. My oldest was going into Spring football, was in the middle of training. And the disruption of those schedules outside of even the academics creates a mental strain and a disruption of routines.

So I think it’s important that we let kids be kids. And again, parents, and coaches, and local leaders, those of us use our best judgment to make sure we do it in a way that is safe. But, let’s use data and facts and let’s let kids be kids. Quick reminder, the virus is still with us. With more testing, you’ll see real raw numbers go up. We watched the percentages. You will see hospitalizations while this virus is with us. We just can’t live in a perpetual lockdown. We got to be smart about this. We’ve got to let kids be kids, and we’ve got to get back to a sense of this economy functioning.

Well thanks, mayor. And as we were thinking about the announcement. My message is, look, talk to your doctors, talk to that. And so I thought about, well, what would I do as a parent? Well, Casey and I have three kids. And we would talk to our pediatrician. So we asked Dr. White if she would come and just talk about kind of what she’s seeing with kids, not only in terms of the COVID, but some of the things that may be impacting our youth as a result of some of the mitigation, and the school closures and the like. So Dr. White, thank you for being willing to come. And the floor’s yours.

Dr. White: (11:50)
Hi, thanks for having me. I am a pediatrician with Ascension at St. Vincent’s. And I’ve cared for kids for over 30 years. This is obviously a unique time for all of our lives. And as we learn more about this virus, I think the guidance that we get from on the experts, I.E. the CDC, the Florida Health Department, governor DeSantis’ office. I think we’re becoming a little bit more focused. Fortunately for Florida, we’ve seen less disease than other states. Again, thanks to I think the great guidance that we’ve gotten. And as the state slowly reopens, it’s imperative that we don’t forget the children. They have been home for three months with no social interaction. We don’t see them at the grocery stores with their moms on Saturdays. We don’t hear them playing outside in the neighborhoods. And if they’re lucky, they get to see their classmates at a virtual school conference, or they might see their classmate who’s driving by with the parent, as they’re waving, singing happy birthday.

Dr. White: (12:57)
So thank goodness we’ve got some social media. But it’s really important that we get our kids socializing again. They need to see their friends. They need to be outside, running around and be active. They need to be able to laugh with their friends. And they need to explore and learn from all the talented teachers that we have out there. So if summer camps and sports camps open this summer, they obviously have to follow the strict precautions that have been recommended. The temperature checks, good hand washing, possibly wearing the masks, the social distancing, as well as the parental due diligence. If your child is sick, stay home.

Dr. White: (13:42)
If you decide not to have your child go to a summer camp, it’s also important that they get outside and play with the neighborhood kids. We’re seeing lots of kids coming in with anxiety issues and depression. And I think that’s because they’ve been isolating themselves. Obviously, I’m asking all parents to set an example and abide by the evidence-based advice that we’re getting from the experts and to follow the personal protection. If schools open in the Fall, they also need to follow these same precautions and then possibly change as we learn more about this horrible virus. But it’s time for our kids to get back to their new normal and it’s time to safely allow kids to be kids.

Thank you, Dr. White. I know you guys really worked hard when this happened about not letting the immunizations fall behind with your patients. That has not been the case statewide or nationwide. So can you talk about the importance of getting the immunizations and what type of health risks we can be seeing, public health risks if a lot of kids fall behind?

Dr. White: (14:57)
Absolutely. So with this big fear, lots of patients have decided not to come into the office. So kids are falling behind on their vaccines, which then makes that herd immunity that we’re looking for to keep certain infections out, we’re fearful that we’re going to see again. The Academy of Pediatrics is very nervous that measles is going to come back. They’re having strange viruses in California that look similar to a polio virus, but it’s not that. So there’s huge concern that we convince parents that the office is safe. You need to come in for your well child checkups and that kids need to be fully vaccinated.

Mayor, you mentioned it about the people, the parents talking to you. What’s your sense of how the yearning, if there is, for having some activities? I mean, it’s been tough. Kids have been at home, virtual education, distance learning, taken out of the routine. Obviously, the kids who were in the high schools have their seasons cut short. If they’re in athletics, if they’re doing school events, canceled. The seniors didn’t graduate. Is this something that you think a lot of the parents are really going to be happy that they’re going to have the opportunity to do?

Absolutely. I’ve heard both from constituents that I don’t have a personal relationship with, on all things from baseball, to ballet, to football, to track. I mean, you name it. Arts. And then from people that I know. There’s a real demand out there and a yearning to get kids into sports, and activities, and out of the house, and back in routines, and off the television and in handheld devices, et cetera. So I think that this is a really important step for the health and wellbeing of our kids and our families.

Great. All right. And with that, yes.

Lorena: (16:53)
Hi, governor. Thank you. Lorena, with Action News Jax. In Jacksonville, there have been two confirmed cases of multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children. Is there a concern as now camps are opening up and school districts are making the plans to reopen eventually, is the state monitoring that? And if so, will that be included in the dashboard as well so that we can keep track of that?

The Department of Health has already put out an advisor on that. But let me turn it over to Dr. White, because I know she’s been looking at this as well.

Dr. White: (17:24)
It’s my understanding that we haven’t seen any cases. That Wolfson is monitoring seven kids for symptoms of it. But as of yesterday, they hadn’t had any cases.

Lorena: (17:36)
The spokesperson for Wolfson Children’s Hospital confirmed with me yesterday that there were two confirmed cases.

Dr. White: (17:41)
I haven’t heard that.

I mean, just so for parents to know, how common would this be?

Dr. White: (17:48)
It’s very rare for kids to have this. Extremely rare.

Lorena: (17:54)
But yet, even the CDC is saying that it still does not know how kids are getting this. And also, they’re really just a lot of questions surrounding this. But, the-

Lorena: (18:03)
Then also there are really just a lot of questions surrounding this. But the underlying commonality is that the kids have either been exposed to COVID-19 or have had COVID-19.

Speaker 2: (18:10)
Correct. And usually symptoms were a couple of weeks after. But I don’t think anybody knows, unfortunately it’s still an evolving virus and evolving infection.

Lorena: (18:21)
Should there be PPE worn at summer camps for kids?

Well look, I think on this, there have been things put out by CDC, the Florida Department of Health put something out. I think it’s something parents should consider. It is extremely rare. And then there’s other health organizations like Cleveland Clinic came out and said, “We’ve seen a couple cases, but it’s not anything out of the ordinary.” That was their view. Others have said otherwise. So I think people can just take a look at that and then make the decisions that they think is best for them. Yes sir?

Speaker 3: (18:53)
[inaudible 00:18:53] restrictions. Do you see this, well, first off, is it statewide that the restrictions will be lifted? And will there be protocols in place? Are you going to require these organized sports players to wear a mask, anything to that nature?

So we are lifting the state restrictions on it. Locals can do as they see fit. I’m not preempting them from being able to do anything, but I just think it makes more sense for them to take these, I mean, I don’t think different regions of the state would even approach it the same way. And I think that a lot of the individual activities, to say, “Here are what you have to do,” and then apply that to day camp, apply it to tennis, apply it to all these things. I don’t know that we’d be able to even come up with one, but I think there’s going to be things that are going to be put on the Department of Health website. A lot of frequently asked questions, things to think about. CDC also has things.

But I think it’s a better approach to let people like the mayor work with his groups locally, and then figure out what makes the best sense, because I just think that I’ve seen other jurisdictions, other states, do a hundred rules for how to pick up a tennis ball and all this. When you do that and you overcook it, you end up getting less compliance with it, because people just throw up their hands and say, “Some of this is ridiculous.” So I think it’s just, we trust parents to use common sense. We trust our local officials. We trust the doctors that work with the folks day to day on a local basis to fashion this in a way that is safe.

I don’t think as a parent, I wouldn’t want my kids being involved in things now, but I would be comfortable with that. But if for some reason I didn’t think it was safe and my wife didn’t then obviously we wouldn’t do it. And so that’s how we’ll do. But it does not prevent if a county wants to do certain types of restrictions that they think make sense to channel it. They are free to do that.

Speaker 4: (20:46)
I’ve heard from literally hundreds of people who say that their unemployment claims are still pending. You said 97.6% of people have been paid, but that’s people with complete applications. How many of those people’s claims are still pending?

So we’ve now paid out about $2.8 billion in the last 10 weeks. So that’s more than the state of Florida paid out in the previous five years combined. So we’re getting close to having paid a million applicants. I think for sure, by the time the weekend’s over we’ll be over that. As I think most of you know we basically had a million unemployed year over year add by the end of last month. So it’s been a really, really top priority to be able to do it.

Now, there have been some folks who, who had some problems with applications, DEO has worked with them to try to get that in good order. And obviously we want to help as many people as we can. I’m also looking at what they’re going to do in this next federal bill. And one of the things, the ideas that are floated around, which I think would make sense is because you had people that were laid off because of the mitigation who probably could go back to work pretty soon if industry gets back up, but may not have the financial incentive to do it. So I think what they should consider letting people take a full lump sum, if they are entitled to a certain amount of money over however many weeks, just give it to them and then let people go back to work. So they get the big lump sum employment and they can go back to work and make money that way. That could create a good incentive to get people back in the workforce.

So I know that’s been talked about a little bit in Washington and I think it makes sense. Yeah, technically not everyone would need to exhaust the unemployment, maybe they would go back to work sooner, but you remove any of the concerns about any disincentives. And so I think that they should consider that. And I think a lot of workers would really appreciate it. [crosstalk 00:22:41] Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Drew Dixon: (22:46)
Drew Dixon from floridapolitics.com. 12.9% unemployment rate released today. Your reaction to that. Do you think that’s the peak or you’re bracing for more?

Well, obviously we knew it was going to be a significant. And so it’s been really difficult. I remember when the mitigation started getting the unemployment report, which we knew was going to change very quickly, but it was 2.8% just two months ago in terms of the report and then for this one. So I think what we have to do, and one of the reasons why I wanted to do a safe, smart step by step approach to recovery is that if we can get people back to work, get some confidence back in the communities, you’ll start to see hopefully a lot of these jobs be recovered. You look at some of them, just look at the theme parks. That’s over a hundred thousand jobs just from the theme parks. Now I think Universal has submitted a plan to reopen and it was endorsed by Orange County.

So I’m going to be reviewing that. We met with the Vice President, we had Disney Sea World, all those others. So there’s definitely a path to get a lot of those people back to work and that’s what we have to do. And so that’s why our whole plan is built on obviously keeping people safe and making sure that we’re doing what it takes to protect our nursing homes, longterm care facilities, all that with respect to the virus. But understanding that this national mitigation that happened has come at a major, major cost and we’ve got to work hard to get it back going. So I’d like to see the economy bounce back as quickly as possible. But I also know it’s just not that simple. There’s confidence, there’s other things. Some of these businesses, even with the PPP loans, some of them got loans from the state, still is very difficult.

You’re going to have businesses that probably aren’t going to be able to open again. Now we’re going to be working on some other small business aid that may make a difference there. But it’s a dramatic change. We’ve never seen a change this dramatic this quick, probably in American history. My hope is though, is that as states like Florida, Texas, others move forward, that we can kind of help lead the way in recovery. [crosstalk 00:24:54] I hope it has. I mean, but I think you have to look at, I mean, what second order shocks happen? I’m not saying that is going to happen, but I think that we’re in unchartered waters. And so we can do our best to, to provide a pathway back to work for people that is really, I think what we need to be doing and I’m on.

Look, I think a lot of people are, itching to get back into it. We had the meeting with the hospitality folks with vice president a couple of days ago. Clearly that’s a bread and butter thing for Florida, but I would note that even the CDC recently came out and said, things like pools, there’s no real risk of transmission with the virus there. So we have different water parks and things that people like to do. Obviously the beaches is something that people want to come to Florida. Fishing, boating, all those things and all that stuff seems like it’s very, very low risk. Obviously we remember the stuff that was thrown at Jacksonville and you haven’t seen any outbreaks or anything from that. And so we do have a pathway back, but it’s, but it’s not going to be easy.

And what I tried to do there out this whole time and was criticized for relentlessly, was have a lighter touch because had I took some approaches that were more draconian, I think you’d see those numbers be way worse. Without question, it would be way worse. And so we tried to mitigate that as best as we could, obviously, when the national shutdown was happening, that’s going to affect Florida because you’re going to have fewer people that are going to come down here. But we really worked hard to mitigate it because I understood that when you’re doing these measures, it’s not free.

And very few people were talking about what could happen on the other end. I was one of the few that was willing to do that.

Speaker 5: (26:38)
Governor is there a plan if COVID-19 spikes again? If so, what is that plan?

Well, so we monitor the numbers every day, hour by hour, day by day. And we’ve seen for a month pretty consistently that if you see anything out of just a trickle in these counties, southeast Florida’s got a little more but anywhere else. Anytime anything moves up, it’s been either a longterm care facility-

… which isn’t the worst thing in the world because we’re offensively going in, testing people that aren’t even symptomatic. And it’s amazing, if you look at these long-term care, there’s a number of seniors that aren’t symptomatic. You would think that as soon as they got it they’d be in the ICU, but that’s fortunately not the case. So we’re identifying cases doing that. We’re identifying cases in prisons. We’ve had hundreds of prison cases over the last week or so. So at any time you see any of these rural counties in North Florida, that there’s 50 cases, you pretty much can bet your bottom dollar it’s a prison. And then we’ve taken testing into areas like Immokalee and other parts that were underserved. So what you’ll do is you will start identifying cases and it tends to really drop off from there.

I think the only two time we’ve seen any type of increase has been with these data dumps. So about a week ago, week and a half, we got 400 cases that were backlog from Miami positive cases from three weeks ago. I think yesterday we got 55,000 test results, but I think the bulk of those, or at least a strong minority, were Miami. Some of those were backed up from a lab. So you just look inside the data. But I think what we’ve seen is our positivity rate is very, very low and we continue to see and go in that direction, and even though we’ve expanded testing dramatically, you’re not seeing as many cases as you did at the beginning of April, so I think that that’s a good sign.

I would also just note that there’s some states that did draconian policies, and you see them and they have spikes. They have massive spikes in places like Illinois, I mean, Michigan has had a lot of problems. Michigan is half of Florida’s size, they’ve got like 5000-plus fatalities. We have about 2100, 2200 fatalities and we’re twice their size. Illinois, major spikes, and they have as stringent policies as you can. So I think a more moderate approach is more effective with the virus, but I also think it’s more effective at getting people back to work and getting society functioning again.

We monitor it all the time. We have the ability to contact, trace and isolate on a local level when that’s needed. But I think it’s just manage. If you just continue working with these long-term care facilities, that really does seem to be where most of this ballgame is, and I think from the very beginning we put a lot of emphasis on that. They’re just now starting to talk about it, and I still don’t think they really want to, at least on the national level.

But we had a choice here in Florida with long-term care facilities, knowing we were ground zero for this with our older population. Do you do a New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan approach, which is take a COVID-positive patient out of the hospital and force them back into the nursing home? Or do you do what Florida did and said, “Actually, you cannot return a COVID-positive patient back to the nursing home”? And the difference is, when you send the COVID-positive patient back to the nursing home it spreads in the nursing home to the most vulnerable people in our society. Massive infections, obviously huge numbers of fatalities. In Florida, we kept it out of that and were able to reduce the number of infections and reduce the fatalities in those facilities.

And so those are just the type of things that really, really make a difference, so we’re going to continue along that way. But I do think that, I mean in Jacksonville, could things have really… I mean, look, it’s not easy, but I think things have trended about as good as could be reasonably be expected.

Speaker 6: (30:43)
Absolutely.

Any time you guys see cases, it’s usually connected with a long-term care facility. That’s been our number one priority, but understand that’s a discrete issue. A prison is a discrete issue. That doesn’t mean you can’t have people going back to work, because as we’ve seen, there were states that did really significant clampdowns on their general population and put the nursing homes in jeopardy, and they failed. And then I think Florida was more moderate, but really focused on the nursing homes and had more success.

But I think Northeast Florida has really done well. A lot of people were saying, what is that now, over a month ago, month and a half ago, how everything was going to be so bad here. Never happened. And no one talks about it any more. It’s like you come through, you do a drive-by smear from out of state and then you just move on. And then when it’s clear you were wrong, there’s never any opportunity or interest in correcting the record or showing that you were wrong, you just kind of go off and you find the next community to smear. Well, I don’t forget that, what they did to people of Jacksonville and some of the things that they said about them, and I’ve been pointing out just how wrong some of these people were from the very beginning, because I knew Mayor Curry was doing it right and I knew that people here were going about it the right way. Thanks everybody.

Speaker 7: (32:28)
Thanks, guys.

Speaker 8: (32:29)
[crosstalk 00:32:29] address that gap [crosstalk 00:32:29]

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