Gov. Ron DeSantis has issued an order for Floridians to stay at home for the next 30 days and only leave their homes for essential services or activities.

DeSantis made the announcement Wednesday during a press conference in Tallahassee and said the order will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

DeSantis had previously resisted issuing any kind of stay-at-home order, but said on Wednesday he decided to issue the order when President Donald Trump extended the national social distancing guidelines for an additional 30 days.

When extending federal guidelines, Trump's task force relied on a model from the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which predicted how the virus would spread in each state. The model assumed that Florida would implement some kind of "stay-at-home" order by Monday.

Even with that assumption, the model on Wednesday was forecasting that COVID-19 cases will peak on May 2 and Florida will see nearly 7,000 deaths by Aug. 4.

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Coronavirus in Florida:Gov. DeSantis issues 'safer at home' order. What it means

DeSantis said he had spoken with the president and believed the 30-day extension was a signal to put the measures in place.

"We don't really know how all these measures work because it's never been tried on American society before, but I think we find ourselves in a situation where we have a national pause," DeSantis said. "And we need to deal with this front and center, and we'll figure out on the back end how we'll get out."

At least 34 states already have statewide stay-at-home orders in place — some for more than a week — that cover about 225 million people or about two-thirds of the nation. Texas and Florida, two states with Republican governors close to Trump, had been the biggest holdouts.

But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a stay-at-home order Tuesday, although he refused to label it either that or a shelter-in-place order, saying those terms give the wrong impression since people can still go to the grocery store, work and obtain essential services.

DeSantis, similarly, titled his order "safer at home," a term he also used for the stay-at-home directive he issued Monday for four South Florida counties, where more than half of the state’s roughly 6,700 positive cases have been reported.

By then, Broward and Miami-Dade counties already had issued local shelter-in-place orders, and several cities in Palm Beach County were also urging residents and businesses to stay home.

"Look, what I would say is if you're engaged in essential services or you're seeking essential services like grocery, gas, medicine, if you're engaging in essential activity, then OK," DeSantis said. "If you're not, you're going to be protecting yourself, your family and your fellow Floridians better if you stick close to home."

DeSantis said he's seen stories from other parts of the country where people were calling the police on others for stepping outside of their homes, and said people just need to exercise good judgement.

"The government can't ham fist everyone into their bedroom," he said.

Businesses that are considered essential services are allowed to remain open to the public. The order doesn't directly call on non-essential business to close and only restricts the "public access of facilities deemed non-essential."

DeSantis said Wednesday his order applies to individuals and wasn't "necessarily saying anything" to non-essential businesses.

"There's a whole bunch of possibilities where some of those 'nonessential businesses' will still be able to do some things, but it's just not going to involve somebody, kind of, leaving the residence, going in and congregating in a business," DeSantis said.

The order defines essential services based off of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's definition of essential services released on Saturday, and other businesses considered essential services in Miami-Dade County's stay-at-home order issued on March 19. All essential business must institute social distancing practices.

The list of essential services includes:

Health care workers

Law enforcement and other first responders

Groceries, pharmacies and convenience stores

Restaurants serving take-out or delivery

Grocery delivery services

Gas stations

Banks and other financial institutions

Hardware stores

Mailing and shipping companies

Private colleges

Laundromats and dry cleaners

Pet supply stores

Office supply stores

Transportation services

Newspapers, radio, television or other media companies

Energy companies

Utility companies

Factories or other industrial manufacturing services

Sanitation services

Car dealerships

Hotels

Funeral homes

Marinas and other marina services

University and college dormitories

Firearm stores

Any business providing services to the government

Under the order, DeSantis said people will be allowed to engage in "essential activities" but should stay at home otherwise.

Essential activities in the order include a broad range of activities such as attending religious services; participating in recreational actives like walking, running, biking, hiking, hunting, fishing or swimming; taking care of pets; and caring for a family member or friend.

The list of approved essential actives can be expanded by state officials.

Social gatherings or any group of more than 10 people are not allowed in any public space, and the order calls local governments to enforce the order to ensure groups of people remain under 10.

Reporter John Kennedy with the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau contributed to this report.

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

Read the full order below: