Gov. Ron DeSantis's task force to reopen Florida held several meetings Wednesday, virtually bringing together members of the executive committee and state industry leaders.
Each of those meetings was comprised of leaders from different categories in the state economy, including tourism, agriculture, entertainment, education, utilities and more.
The first, leisure, discussed strategies to re-open Florida's beaches and state parks while still maintaining social distance. Theme parks talked about screenings, capping attendance and using virtual lines to disperse crowds.
Sports teams say they'd like to start playing again sometime this summer --testing athletes and possibly playing to empty stadiums.
“We’d love to get sports back on the TV as soon as possible,” Matthew Caldwell, CEO of the Florida Panthers hockey club, said.
A second task force committee heard from utility companies and education leaders. Electric and energy companies say they're hearing anxiety from customers about bills, but the power itself has seen few interruptions.
A lot can be handled remotely, but they worry about manpower if a hurricane hits this season.
On education, leaders are clearly determined to get students back in class this fall. They spent far less time discussing the health risks than they did the economic impact.
“Two-thirds of parents are impacted significantly by the child care and student issues,” Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said.
The third committee meeting on agriculture and healthcare ran into technical issues. The line dripped off repeatedly. The meeting was rescheduled for noon then another date after that call also had problems.
Gov. DeSantis did address the committee earlier.
He encouraged suggestions that would have an economic benefit, even with some risk to those presumably healthy or less susceptible to COVID-19.
“We obviously don’t want anyone to get infected by it,“ DeSantis said. “but if we can at least prevent the people most vulnerable and with really serious consequences from getting infected that would really continue to go along way.”
With the governor's deadline rapidly approaching, one of the chief criticisms for the task force remains that there are no scientists or medical doctors on the panel. Tampa General Hospital president and CEO John D. Couris is on the executive committee.
On Wednesday, several members of the executive committee said they would be far more comfortable moving forward with guidelines and recommendations if they had more input from people in the medical field.
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