ORLANDO, Fla. — In a wide-ranging interview with Eyewitness News, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he’s concerned the current outbreak in Florida will get worse, but that he remains hopeful that treatments may be on the horizon.
“As people go out and interact with each other, as people do, you’re going to have outbreaks,” said Rubio speaking from his home in south Florida. “You have got to open up, there is no way you can keep people confined.”
On Wednesday, Florida reported a 13.6% positivity rate from more than 80,000 tests. The state also crossed a grim milestone, reporting more than 300,000 positive cases since the outbreak began; a number only reached by California and New York.
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“Even though the surge is among younger and healthier people the fear has always been those younger and healthier people would infect two more people and they would infect two more people and it would reach the more vulnerable population,” says Rubio referencing the median age of those infected, which has remained in the 30s.
Against this backdrop of rising cases, Florida’s senior senator urges caution as the state makes the move to reopen schools. For Rubio, getting kids back into class is crucial, but cannot come as a top-down approach.
“Every county is in a different place and I am not in favor of denying funds to any school district because they don’t do what the federal government tells them to do. You are only punishing the kids when you do that,” says Rubio. “Here is what I think, I think ultimately we’re going to be in a better place in two to three months, I would be very cautious about making pronouncements for the next six months because I do think some of these innovations have a chance to make things dramatically better.”
While schools across the state grapple with how and when to reopen, there is one major event that will happen in the next six weeks: the Republican National Convention. The convention, which was moved from North Carolina to Jacksonville after the governor of North Carolina raised concerns about the spread of COVID-19, is still in the planning stages with some within the GOP suggesting convention events may need to be held outside to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Rubio, who did not attend the 2016 convention in Cleveland, says he’ll be at the 2020 convention in Jacksonville.
“I am going to go, I have not seen a schedule come out yet. They’re going to test everyone that goes into the hall. When you leave the hotel before you get on the bus to go over to the Convention Center they’re going to test everybody,” says Rubio. “If you want a free COVID test it sounds like you should be a delegate to the convention.”
Read: Orange County Public Schools tables decision on reopening plan until Friday
While the party is making plans for testing and masks, one of the other options is moving some events outside where the virus is significantly diminished. It’s an idea that may mitigate the virus, but also mean attendees will need to contend with the hot, humid, and unpredictable Florida summer.
“I hope it is at night; it won’t make it great, but it will make it better. We are in a different environment right now,” says Rubio.
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For Rubio, who in the Senate, is working on another package of loans for small businesses still struggling with the impacts of COVID-19, another issue continues to swirl a possible vacancy on the US Supreme Court.
On Tuesday night, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital. While she would be released 24-hours later, the question of her health as well as the possibility that another justice may step down has raised the question of an election-year appointment.
In 2016 when Justice Antonin Scalia suddenly passed away in February, Republicans in the Senate held open the seat until after November election. Rubio says if a vacancy opens now, the Senate will move to fill the seat, although he doubts a vacancy could be filled before November.
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“It all depends on the timing, whether it is even possible to do this because it takes time to process a Supreme Court nomination,” says Rubio. “Would I love to have another justice on the US Supreme Court? Absolutely. Do I wish that as a result of somebody’s health problems? No. And so I don’t even want to speculate on it because it’s not the way we want it to happen.”
Rubio says any vacancy at this point, due to the schedule, would more than likely remain open, making it a campaign issue for November.
Stay tuned to Channel 9 Eyewitness News for updates.
Cox Media Group
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