Checkpoints at state lines to keep travelers from COVID-19 “epicenters” out of Florida

Posted: Mar 27, 2020 / 06:31 PM CDT / Updated: Mar 27, 2020 / 06:31 PM CDT

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Col. Lou Caputo directs a driver wanting to continue down the Florida Keys Overseas Highway near Key Largo, Fla., Friday, March 27, 2020. The Keys have been temporarily closed to visitors and non-residents since March 22, because of the coronavirus crisis. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WKRG/ASSOCIATED PRESS) –Governor Ron DeSantis said during his daily briefing Friday that checkpoints will be set up at state lines in Florida, limiting travel from covid-19 hot spots like Louisiana.

Commercial vehicles would be allowed to move freely. DeSantis said that vacation rentals will also be suspended for two weeks, “if you’re coming from one of the epicenters, we probably think you should obey the directions of your state and local officials.

And if they are telling you to shelter in place do that but don’t come here.” DeSantis says panhandle communities have relatively low numbers of cases and they want to keep it that way.

The Governor said this is an effort to prevent people from traveling to Florida to escape other “hot spots” of the coronavirus.

Details on the checkpoints weren’t extremely clear, but DeSantis said people with certain license plates would be diverted and “if they blow through the checkpoints they could be pulled over”

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