Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republicans have been quick to push back against a report that President Joe Biden’s administration is considering new travel restrictions to areas, including Florida, that have seen a surge in cases involving variants of COVID-19.
DeSantis is also emphatic that current COVID-19 vaccines are effective against variants of the disease first found in the United Kingdom.
That strain is spreading in Florida and other parts of the U.S.
Speaking in Port Charlotte Thursday, DeSantis called the White House travel restriction proposal absurd and potentially unconstitutional.
"We will oppose it 100%," DeSantis said. "It would not be based in science. It would purely be a political attack against the people of Florida.”
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio wrote to the Democratic president that such a travel restriction would be an outrageous, authoritarian move that has no basis in law or science.
The White House restrictions are being contemplated as Canada, a big source of Florida’s foreign visitors, announced that starting Monday, people arriving by land will have to show negative COVID-19 tests from within the previous 72 hours.
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