Citing the surge of positive COVID-19 cases in Florida, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, or DBPR, issued an emergency order on Friday that would close bars and businesses whose sales primarily come from alcoholic beverages.
Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference in Fort Myers a few hours after DBPR's announcement, but did not mention the recent closure. He instead focused on the increased rate of positive test results.
"We’ve been testing 10-15%, have been testing positive for really the last week and that’s a huge change from where we were at the beginning of June, when we were basically 3 or 4% in terms of the [positive rate] statewide." DeSantis said.
Despite the higher rate of positive COVID-19 cases, DeSantis said he will not mandate the use of masks in public.
"The idea that you're just going to mandate and selectively prosecute people, I don’t think that’s necessarily going to work," DeSantis said. "I do think that what’ll work is, you know, consistent messaging, letting people know what they can do to help protect themselves and protect others."
DeSantis encouraged people to practice good hand hygiene, social distancing, and to use “good judgement” while in public.
