ORLANDO,Fla. — Orlando International Airport is the gateway to Florida for many travelers.
While many other states have restricted travel for many visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic Florida has remained open.
Federal officials have had COVID testing requirements for international travel for months. Now there is talk of expanding that requirement to domestic flights as well.
Airline industry groups have even written a letter to the White House explaining they don’t think it’s necessary.
They contend masks, cleaning procedures and filtration systems on planes have kept the spread on aircraft to a minimum.
Officials say their reasons for concern are places with large numbers of variant cases like Florida.
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At a press conference in Port Charlotte, Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t hesitate to make his feelings known.
“Any attempt to restrict or lockdown Florida by the federal government would be an attack on our state done purely for political purposes,” DeSantis said.
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The governor pointed to numbers showing that in December Florida had fewer COVID-19 cases per capita than 27 other states.
Experts say before any type of testing restrictions could be put in place there would have to be a system in place to handle the number of passengers needing tests. That system just isn’t currently in place.
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