DeSantis slams Biden measures to halt spread of omicron; proposes Florida State Guard

Gov. Ron DeSantis indicated Thursday he was not going to take any new measures against the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant in Florida, instead slamming President Joe Biden’s travel rules despite restrictions he ordered last year.

“I don’t think that they should be imposing any mandates on air travel or any of the things that they have done,” DeSantis said at an event in Pensacola. “I think it has not been anything that’s really made much of a difference. I think it’s inconveniencing a lot of people. I think it’s cramped the willingness of people to travel. And I don’t think that that’s necessarily a good thing.

Travelers arriving from a foreign country, including both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, will have to do a COVID test within 24 hours of departure instead of the previous 72-hour window. They also will be required to wear masks on planes, trains and buses as well as airports and bus stations through March instead of through January.

The first case of omicron in the U.S. was announced Wednesday in a man in California who flew in from South Africa.

DeSantis has imposed his own travel restrictions in the past, however. In March 2020, he required anyone arriving from the New York City area to quarantine for 14 days, a measure in place for months.

Travelers were stopped at the Florida border and met on planes by law enforcement.

“There’s over 190 direct flights from the New York City area to the state of Florida, and I would reckon, given the outbreak there, that every single flight has somebody on it who’s positive for COVID-19,” DeSantis said then.

New York turned the tables by imposing its own quarantine requirement on people arriving from Florida when the state’s case rates jumped in summer 2020.

On Thursday, DeSantis cited rising case counts in northern states as proof his COVID policies have worked, though none have risen to the levels seen in Florida over the summer. DeSantis has banned mask mandates in schools, forbidden many employers from requiring COVID-19 vaccines for their workers, and for months done little to encourage vaccination in general.

The governor also praised Florida’s current COVID case numbers following the summer wave, which infected 1 million Floridians between June and October, saying Florida had “the lowest [numbers] in the country.”

A South Florida Sun-Sentinel report, however, said a federal map showing the state having COVID-19 transmission rates lower than all other 49 states was misleading, as community transmission levels by county had not been updated for Florida on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention portal since Thanksgiving.

Florida’s rebound comes after the state has reported more than 61,000 COVID deaths, including nearly 20,000 since June.

DeSantis was in Pensacola to announce a proposal to create a Florida State Guard, an all-volunteer force of up to 200 people that would report directly to the governor and assist in the response to hurricanes, natural disasters, and other state emergencies, he said.

The unit has been inactive since 1947 but remains in law as the Florida State Defense Force.

“We want to be able to have a quick response capability, and reestablishing the Florida State Guard will allow civilians from all over the state to be trained in the best emergency response techniques, and have the ability to mobilize very, very quickly,” DeSantis said. He said he wanted to secure $3.5 million in next year’s budget for the program.