'We've got your back', Florida's DeSantis tells service industries

FPI / December 17, 2020

Freedom. That is what's on the menu in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis asserted while visiting Okeechobee Steakhouse in West Palm Beach on Tuesday that restaurants in the Sunshine State will remain open.

DeSantis stated: “We’re happy to be here at Okeechobee Steakhouse to really send a message that at a time when folks in our service industries, particularly restaurants, lodging, and hospitality, have kind of taken it on the chin, particularly in other states, where they’ve been completely shut down. We just want to send a message: Some may want to shut you down; we want to pull you up. We’ve got your back.”

The Florida governor has been heavily criticized by leftist politicians and is pounded on a daily basis by leftist media in the state for his refusal to implement the harsh lockdowns ordered by so many Democrat tyrants in statehouses across the nation.

“If you’re somebody who’s a waitress or a cook or you’re a family-owned business, you’re an important part of our state,” DeSantis said. “You’re working folks, who are working hard to make a living; you have every right to do that. You can take it to the bank in the state of Florida; you’re going to have that right defended by the governor.”

DeSantis noted that contact tracing data released by New York in the past few days indicates that restaurants and bars are not a major source of covid spread. Restaurants and bars accounted for only 1.43 percent off all covid cases in New York during the so-called “second surge” from the beginning of September through the end of November.

“So it doesn’t mean it can’t happen here, but I think we have to understand the vast, vast majority of infections are occurring in people’s homes, particularly if you have people getting together,” DeSantis said. “So closing a restaurant for indoor dining is going to lead to more people doing that in private homes anyway.”

DeSantis said citizens are fully capable of making their own, best-informed decisions: “But here’s the thing: even if you think that it’s more than 1.4 percent, the appropriate response to that is to inform people about situations where you may have a higher risk, not to shut down. Let individuals make decisions about what they’re comfortable doing. I can tell you, we’ve worked with these folks across Florida, and I know Okeechobee’s no different: they put every effort to creating a safe environment and a healthy environment. They’re not going to get customers unless they do that, and I know that that’s what they’ve done here at Okeechobee Steakhouse.”

He concluded: “And so we’re coming up on Christmas; it’s an important time of year for a lot of people, and we just want to let people know that if you’re somebody who’s been working hard, you’re a worker in one of these industries, we’re standing with you 100 percent. We know what you’ve done; we know what you’ve sacrificed, but we also know how much these jobs mean to you and how much these industries mean to the state of Florida.”



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