Gov. DeSantis: Florida is prepared for potential coronavirus impacts

The time to prepare is now, even if Florida’s health risk is low at the moment for coronavirus. That was the message from Governor Ron DeSantis at a news conference on Thursday morning.

There are still no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Florida; but, he did say people have been tested. Right now, over 80,000 people have been infected by the virus worldwide. The governor is stressing though that if the virus does make its way here, the state has the right teams in place to address it.

“This is a rapidly evolving situation,” DeSantis said. “An epidemiology team has been working on this since the first week of January. We have an incident management team in place and are working with the CDC receiving multiple updates daily.”

The governor says they are closely monitoring the situation; they’ve even put a management team in place to handle cases. They have also instructed hundreds of Florida Department of Health personnel to help monitor and report cases.

Another concern was travel. Flights from China are not allowed to fly into Florida. As for flights from countries like Italy and South Korea, they are still being monitored.

“That’s going to be a determination that’s going to made by the federal government,” DeSantis said. “I don’t know if there have been as many cases there as there have been in the areas where those travel restrictions are.”

As cases continue to be reported worldwide, they’re asking the public to prepare.

DeSantis says all cases of the virus and any updated information can be found on their website.

You can rewatch the video in the stream below: