Kudos to Gov. DeSantis for avoiding long lockdown
One year ago, I saw the world shut down. I saw commerce halt, travel cease and governments across the globe search for answers. Serving at the time as vice chair of the Orlando International Airport, where I now serve as chairman, I watched as one of America’s largest airports’ passenger traffic dropped by 94%, from 81,000 visitors a day to under 1,800 a few weeks later. Scientists scrambled to provide information while economies worldwide began to shutter, and governments commenced their lockdowns in an effort to “flatten the curve.”
The results at Orlando International Airport were grim — thousands of workers were laid off from hundreds of airport-related business closings, many of them small, minority, and immigrant-owned businesses representing the culmination of their life’s work. Nationwide, the country lost 22.2 million jobs and the national unemployment rate ballooned to 14.7%.
Throughout the crisis, I kept in regular contact with Gov. Ron DeSantis and his staff, and know he worked carefully and relentlessly to understand the virus along with the potential side effects of further lockdowns.
Our governor could have easily followed the frenzied stampede of other governors who defaulted to authoritarian steps to enforce continued lockdowns. Instead, he protected our seniors while reopening our beautiful beaches and parks. He allowed businesses to reopen, kids to go back to school and high-school sports to get rolling again.
He followed the data, took the road less traveled, and Florida is better off because of his actions.
Today, the most pervasive question facing public policy and the national debate is: Is there proof that state-imposed lockdowns really work? Prolonged lockdowns have had extraordinary impacts on virtually every aspect of society including mental health (evidenced by a surge in depression, suicides, and overdoses); child welfare; education; and collective fiscal and economic health. When governors take away people’s rights and create this kind of havoc on society, it’s their job to prove it’s clearly going to be worth it.
There is perhaps no greater contrast point in the case against lockdowns than the state of Florida.
Based on the most recently available economic reports, Florida’s unemployment rate is 24% less than the national average and almost half that of New York and California. Last month Florida saw an 8.8% increase in job postings, California was down 2.4% and New York was down 6.7%. Importantly, the economic success Florida has enjoyed does not seem to have come at the expense of pandemic response, relative to states that remain largely in lockdown. Florida’s COVID-19 cases per capita (8,962 per 100,000 citizens) are lower than that of California (8,967 per 100,000 citizens). When measuring only since September of last year, the starkness in numbers intensifies with Florida at 5,811 cases per 100,000, while California and New York are at 6,750 and 6,958 per 100,000, respectively.
Gov. DeSantis has famously used the phrase “Seniors First” and is practicing what he preaches. To date, 40 states have a higher COVID-19 mortality rate among seniors aged 65 and older.
As a Floridian, I am here to tell those afflicted under harsh lockdowns that here in Florida, under the leadership of Gov. DeSantis, the grass really is greener on the other side. I invite you to fly into Orlando International Airport, which has become the No. 1 airport destination in America according to monthly TSA counts (63,619 passengers just on Sunday). When you get here, you will be greeted and served by nearly 17,000 fantastic airport employees who are back to work. Hopefully, they will all be back to work soon.
Many have played a part in Orlando International Airport and Florida’s recovering success including local government leadership, airlines, our tourism industry and our incredible Orlando Airport team. But a special thanks goes to Gov. DeSantis. He followed true principles and good data. He was bold when others were not, which is why the state of Florida continues to flourish.