Newsbrief: Governor of Florida opposes letting cruise ships dock in Florida

by Zack Brundage

As medical resources are being stretched to their limits due to Covid-19 the governor of Florida opposes allowing two Holland America cruise ships to dock in Fort Lauderdale, according to Orlando Sentinel .

(Photo: Orlando Sentinel)

As of March 31, these ships have over 200 sick passengers with four deaths.  Including passengers and crew, there are nearly 1500 people that are potentially contagious.

Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is concerned that bringing the passengers and crew into South Florida will overwhelm the medical system.   “We view this as a big, big problem and we don’t want to see people dumped in southern Florida right now,” he said.

DeSantis is not alone in his concern.  The Broward Board of Commissioners, who also have the authority to prevent the ship from docking in Fort Lauderdale, do not want the influx of sick people.  One commissioner, Mark Bogen, offered a solution of immediately transporting the passengers to the Homestead Air Force Base outside of Miami for quarantine.  “We protect Broward County residents and let these people off the ship,” he said of his idea. “The feds put up the resources. … That protects Broward residents, it doesn’t put a strain on our resources and it lets the people come in.”

The ships are due to arrive in South Florida no later than Thursday morning.

Zack Brundage is currently living in hot sunny Florida playing golf and working on his car during these days of quarantine.