A.G. Gancarski
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is inching toward bringing back cruises under certain conditions, but Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to blast them for inaction and what he calls not following the science.
“I can tell you, I want the cruise ships going,” DeSantis said to applause in Satellite Beach Wednesday.
“We also want our cruise lines to open. The CDC has mothballed this for a year. They said it was going to be two weeks last March,” DeSantis said, referring to a no-sail order imposed during the Donald Trump administration, but which seems to nettle him more since the new President took over.
“Now here we are a year later and there’s no end in sight,” he groused. “Now they say you can only cruise if you have 98% of people show proof of vaccination. But that’s ridiculous. They’re cruising in other parts of the world where they don’t even have availability of vaccines yet, where they have much higher COVID than in the United States.”
DeSantis noted during a second stop in Fort Myers that requirement means “families can’t cruise because the kids aren’t authorized yet, and even if this happens in emergency use, that’s for teens and not young kids.”
He said banning domestic boarding and offloading of cruises is pointless and just allows cruisers to “ignore Florida.”
“If you don’t let them sail from Florida,” DeSantis noted, “they’re going to sail from the Bahamas.”
He said that was “fundamentally unfair” and “makes no sense” and noted that a lawsuit first floated against the federal government in March was still live and that a hearing was pending.
DeSantis noted the toll the shutdown took on those who depend on the industry for their livelihoods, including “deaths from despair, deaths from people who got involved with drugs and substance abuse or suicide” because their “livelihoods were shattered by what the CDC did.”
He also pointed to “larger implications than just cruise ships sailing or not,” with bureaucrats potentially pausing any industry at will.
“With all due respect to the CDC, if you look at some of the stuff they’ve done on school openings, where they’re basically doing the teachers unions’ bidding, where they say these kids should be masked at summer camp outdoors, I’m sorry, that’s not science, that’s politics,” DeSantis said, predicting a “big victory for the people of Florida” in the suit.
DeSantis takes a more hardline position on how cruises open than some other prominent Republicans from Florida. Former Gov. Rick Scott said he “absolutely” wants cruises back, and the vaccination precondition that nettles DeSantis does not faze the Senator.
8 comments
Karellen
May 5, 2021 at 2:22 pm
What will the tubby Fascist do when he hears about Disney’s decision to maintain mask requirements for entry?
Jeff
May 7, 2021 at 11:55 am
What? Ron wants Florida open and free, and you call him a fascist? Disney want’s to control what you put on your face and they’re not fascists? I don’t think you know what the definition of fascist is…. Do you really need someone telling you how to live your life?
tom palmer
May 5, 2021 at 9:12 pm
When Ronnie sets foot on a cruise ship…..
PeterH
May 6, 2021 at 10:24 am
Laughable! What ports of call are open to cruise ships?
Ed Hurd
May 8, 2021 at 10:12 pm
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. It was ok for DeSantis to stop cruise ships from allowing passengers to go home during the Covid days. This action costs Cruise Lines tens of millions of dollars. Now DeSantis wants possible Covid passengers to again be allowed on cruise ships. Only government could be so arrogant. Shame, Shame, Shame on DeSantis.
JoAnne
May 10, 2021 at 9:09 am
We need cruise ships in Florida. Some of the blue transplants don’t understand that. It would be more reasonable to expect vaccination or a negative test like other countries are doing.
T King
May 11, 2021 at 1:36 pm
We will NOT sail from Florida, if passengers are not vaccinated. We want to be safe and not kept onboard a cruise ship with very ill covid passengers and a deceased passengers. And Desantis refused to let them disembark in Florida for over a week. Look at the news from March 2020. The 95% per the CDC would allow for some children to board with a covid test under 12 years old. We will go to another port if Desantis tries to stop cruiselines from protecting their passengers and crew. Federal law should override his State law.
Another political stunt! He’s destroying the cruise business for Florida. Vote him out!
James R. Miles
May 12, 2021 at 7:20 pm
DeSatan DOES NOT control the CDC! He should shut his pie hole!
Comments are closed.