TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis is ordering all Floridians to stay at home beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday, a decision that came after mounting pressure from health officials to lock down the state in the fight against the coronavirus.

Florida had been the only state with more than 5,000 cases without such an order, with DeSantis insisting that localized orders for South Florida and by individual cities and counties were sufficient.

But by Wednesday, the state had nearly 7,000 cases and was seeing one of the biggest day-over-day increases in the country.

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DeSantis said at a Tallahassee press conference that he would order for Floridians to “limit movements and personal interaction outside the home" to just essential services and activities.



“It makes sense to make this move now,” DeSantis said of the order, which allows Floridians to be outside their homes for essential services such as grocery shopping, buying gasoline and going to the doctor’s office, among other things.

The order includes exceptions for “essential services” – getting food, medical supplies, hospital visits and working for crucial industries like grocery stores and pharmacies, for example. Religious services in houses of worship are also permitted, as are recreational activities such as fishing, hunting, walking, running, biking and swimming.

“A social gathering in a public place is not an essential activity,” the order states. “Local jurisdictions shall ensure that groups of people greater than 10 are not permitted to congregate in any public place.”

Less than 24 hours earlier, DeSantis defended his decision not to issue a statewide order, and argued he didn’t have any power to enforce it; that local government “buy-in” would be critical for enforcement.

The order expires on April 30, though at least one major study out of the University of Washinton predicted Florida’s peak for coronavirus cases would be May 3.

The governor said President Trump had agreed with him on his previous focus on the state’s “hotspots,” but added, “it seems like he understood” the new order.

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DeSantis cited Trump’s announcement Tuesday that social distancing should last until May as one reason for moving forward with the statewide order.

“It’s another 30-day situation,” DeSantis said. “And we’ve got to do what makes sense.”

The move comes as DeSantis was taking increasing criticism from not only Florida Democrats but also health experts and some Republicans for being one of the last governors of a large state to issue a shutdown order.

“It is distressing that Governor Ron DeSantis waited until the coronavirus had spread to so many Floridians before finally issuing a statewide stay-at-home order,'' Florida Democratic Party Chair Terrie Rizzo said in a statement. "I hope this will finally slow the rise in infections and that his actions are not too late.”

Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan told CNN Tuesday, "I don’t know why other governors haven’t taken these steps,” referring to stay-at-home orders.

On Wednesday, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told NBC that Trump’s guidelines, which predicted estimates of between 100,000 to 240,000 deaths nationally if all states took strict measures, were a de facto order to stay home.

© Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS Florida National Guardsmen walk past nurses gathering before the start of testing for Covid-19 at the Regional Temporary Drive-Through Testing Site at the Orange County Convention Center on April 1, 2020 in Orlando, Fla. Wednesday marked the first day of testing age restrictions being lifted at the OCCC site.

“My advice to America would be that these guidelines are a national stay-at-home order," Adams said.

DeSantis has ordered bars and nightclubs to close, issued stay home orders for South Florida, limited restaurants to take out and delivery only and banned non-emergency medical procedures. But he said Tuesday that he hadn’t received an explicit recommendation from the White House’ coronavirus task force to issue a statewide order.

“The task force has not recommended that to me, if they do obviously that would be something that would carry a lot of weight with me,” DeSantis said Tuesday.

Nikki Fried, the state agriculture commissioner and lone Democrat in the Florida Cabinet, who said the order was weeks in the making, was conciliatory towards DeSantis.

“When I called for this stay-at-home order nearly two weeks ago, there was a reason," Fried said in a statement. "It was necessary to flatten the curve and save lives. I said then I would stand with the governor when he issued the order, and I do so now. Thank you, Governor, for making the right call.”

Seminole Commission Chairman Jay Zembower said the county is still in the process of receiving the governor’s order “and how it relates to what we’ve put in place.”

“I think a lot of us will be grateful across the entire state [about the governor’s order] and so we don’t have a puzzle of orders across the state," Zembower added.

Alan Harris, Seminole’s emergency director, said that Seminole’s executive order limits businesses capacity and required people to stand six feet apart.

“Seminole County’s is going to be a little more strict,” Harris said. “In our county, you must have the markings on ground.”

In Volusia County, which had no county shutdown order and where beaches controversially remain open, there was mixed reaction from county commissioners.

Volusia Commissioner Billie Wheeler said in an email that DeSantis “has had Florida’s well-being always first on his list. I am sure this decision did not come easily, nor without much consultation throughout.” She added she hasn’t talked to staff about what the order entails, “but this is an executive order and I respect his decisions.”

But Volusia Commissioner Heather Post said the order came much too late.

“I’ve had deep concerns over the mixed messages about COVID-19 being provided on many fronts and adversely, the mixed reactions/actions from citizens,” Post said in an email. “I have been calling on residents to STAY HOME unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY."

She added, "Although the Governor’s order provides for a generous listing of essential activities and services as permission to be out in the community, I hope [now] more will understand the true, serious nature of this and respond accordingly.”

DeSantis also announced he would accelerate several road projects across the state to take advantage of the lighter traffic amid the stay home order, including one in Orlando on Sand Lake Road.

The state transportation department has several widening and improvement projects underway along the normally busy tourist corridor of Sand Lake Road in south Orange County, spanning from west of International Drive to east of Florida’s Turnpike.

A section starting at International Drive was chosen for an accelerated schedule, according to the governor’s initiative. The cost of that work was not immediately available.

But DeSantis’ order did not include the overhaul of Interstate 4. It started in 2015 with budget of $2.3 billion and a scheduled finish in spring 2021. But work on Central Florida’s busiest road has fallen behind and over budget and has been disrupted by the deaths of five workers on the job.

The state recently confirmed that conventional lanes without tolls will open next year and that newly added toll lanes will be ready for use in 2022.

Staff writers Kevin Spear and Martin E. Comas contributed to this report. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

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