There is no evidence that people going to eat at restaurants has been a factor in Florida’s dramatic increase in coronavirus cases, Sen. Marco Rubio told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence that restaurants, or Disney World - which is an outdoor setting [and recently reopened] - or beaches, or parks are the cause of this surge,” Rubio said.
The Florida Republican instead blamed “people behaving like people,” explaining that “What happened, and is happening, is, people are going out -particularly younger people - and they’re getting together. They’re getting together in public spaces, but they’re getting together in each other’s homes.”
The senator, who conceded that his observations were “anecdotal,” said those young people then inadvertently spread it to their families, including vulnerable populations such as their grandparents.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also Republican, has been reluctant to issue statewide orders to combat the virus. Restaurants in Florida are permitted to have indoor seating with limited capacity, according to TPM.
But Rubio’s declarations and DeSantis’s reluctance to take action contradicts guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which states that indoor dining poses a substantial risk of virus transmission.
The CDC insists that this is so even if indoor dining has reduced seating capacity.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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