During a press conference at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would sign an executive order urging South Florida residents to stay home through mid-May.
Later in the day, though, he said he meant to say mid-April, the Miami Herald reported.
The state has 5,473 total cases of the virus with 63 deaths. The tri-county area accounts for 56 percent of the cases and 35 percent of the deaths, according to a state website.
Miami-Dade has 1,532 cases and three deaths. Broward has 1,152 cases and 11 deaths. Palm Beach County has 423 cases and eight deaths. Monroe County has 24 cases and no reported deaths.
South Florida governments have gradually added stay-at-home orders and shut down non-essential businesses, but rules have varied between cities and counties. There has been a push by managers in many cities for counties to enact county wide orders, which has been largely accomplished, and now it appears the governor will set a standard for the region.
The move comes as President Donald Trump has said he wants social distancing guidelines extended nationally until April 30. Last week he had hoped that the guidelines might be lifted by April 12, which is Easter.
“The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end,” Trump said at a press conference on Sunday.
Modeling indicates the peak of the pandemic could still be two weeks away nationwide.
A major complication is the lack of a sample size of testing that represents a cross section of the population in general. This is needed to determine just how widespread the virus is, but a shortage of testing kits has made this impossible. Many people show few, if any, symptoms of COVID-19 and could pass the virus along without even knowing they have it.
