Claim: The borders to Florida are closed

A Facebook post claims that the Florida border is "officially closed" and that unless you have a Florida ID or are a commercial driver you can't enter the state.

Florida is open, but there are checkpoints

To drive south into Florida, you have to come in through Alabama or Georgia. And despite what was posted on Facebook, both borders are open.

There are no roadblocks, but there are checkpoints when crossing into the state via I-95 and I-10, Beth Frady, communications director for the Florida Department of Transportation, wrote in an email.

Drivers and their passengers coming from Louisiana, New York, New Jersey or Connecticut will be required to fill out a “traveler form” at the checkpoint that includes their contact information and the details of their trip. They will also be required to stay isolated for the first 14 days they are in the state. If their visit is shorter than that, they have to stay isolated the entire time, according to a DOT news release.

The DOT is enforcing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive orders directing anyone entering the state “from an area with substantial community spread” to be under isolation or quarantine. This doesn’t apply to people “performing military, emergency, health or infrastructure response” or people who work in a neighboring state and commute to work in Florida.

In case you missed it:3,700 people entered Florida via I-10, I-95 from high risk states. None were turned away.

How did coronavirus infect Florida?:Travelers visited 46 states, 75 foreign destinations before diagnosis

Also, those who simply drove or rode through the states, didn't spend time there and have no symptoms of a coronavirus infection aren't required to quarantine.

On March 20, the governor issued a similar executive order for people from New York and its tri-state area who were arriving at airports in Florida.

Anyone traveling from the affected areas who doesn’t self-quarantine is committing a second-degree misdemeanor and could get up to 60 days in jail, a $500 fine or both.

More than 3,700 total traveler forms have been collected at the checkpoints, according to Frady.

That’s about 150,000 fewer people than shared Wayne Fowler's Facebook post.

Fowler, who lives in Cocoa, according to his Facebook profile, is a prolific poster, with more than 2,000 followers between his personal Facebook page and the page for his karaoke business.

When reached by phone, Fowler said he knew there were checkpoints on roads coming into the state and that’s why he posted the information.

“I thought they stopped it,” he said of border crossings into Florida. “I thought they were turning people around."

After hearing an explanation of the checkpoints and the 14-day isolation requirement, Fowler agreed that some of the drivers he thought were turning around might be doing so voluntarily, unwilling to spend a two-week Florida vacation holed up in a hotel room.

Now that he was aware the posted information was false, he said he would fix it.

Our rating: False

Not only is Florida not closed, the borders are open, but people must stop at a checkpoint. A recent article in the Pensacola News Journal stated that: "Of those 3,700 travelers from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Louisiana, not a single person has been told to turn around and go back the way they came."

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