MIAMI – The state of Florida has filed a lawsuit against the federal government to demand that cruise lines begin sailing immediately, Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Thursday.
DeSantis said the no-sail order is out of date and is damaging the state as industry generates billions for the economy and employs tens of thousands of Floridians.
“We do not believe that the federal government has the right to mothball a large industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data,” the Republican governor said at a press conference in the port of Miami.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines last week for companies, how they should react in the case of Covid-19 cases, but have not yet lifted their no-sail order.
The CDC stopped sailing last March When several coronavirus outbreaks were linked to ships around the world, they caused ports to reject docking plans and left some passengers and crew to navigate for extended periods of time.
Florida is the cruise capital of the country with three of the busiest ports in the world: Miami, Port Canaveral near the Kennedy Space Center, and Port Everglades near Fort Lauderdale. The industry generates billions for the state’s economy as millions of people sail from one of Florida’s ports every year.
DeSantis has upheld the ban, which disproportionately affects Florida, stating that cruising has resumed in much of the world, forcing Americans to fly to other ports in the nearby Bahamas. Industry leaders say there have been no new outbreaks associated with their ships.
“People will cross one way or another. The question is whether we’re going to do it from Florida, the world’s premier place to do it, or whether we’re going to do it from the Bahamas or other places. “Said DeSantis.
