PBS高端访谈:疫情期间的居家法令有何影响?（在线收听）

Hari Sreenivasan: Governor Ron DeSantis issued a state-wide stay-at-home order for Florida in response to the spread of the coronavirus just yesterday. This came after some local counties and cities had already put similar orders in place ahead of the governor's mandate. I spoke with Stephen Mort from PBS station WUCF about the change and developments in Florida.

Hari Sreenivasan: Steve, the big news in Florida this week is that you finally have a stay-at-home order, but what does that actually mean?

Steve Mort: That's something that local authorities throughout Florida are trying to figure out. The governor coming out this week and saying finally that there was going to be the statewide stay at home order. Now, the confusion comes because the governor initially said that his order supersedes all other orders throughout the state, that they couldn't go further than this order put in place. And in fact, Governor DeSantis on Wednesday night put out a clarification order making just that point, saying that all other local government orders that conflict with this, this now supersedes it. The following day, however, on Thursday, he did say that local authorities have the ability to do more, that this just acted as a floor. Now, you know, there's all kinds of confusion about this. If this does supersede local government action, then it would open the way, for example, for religious services to take place. That's been something that some local authorities have said you can't do. And in fact, we saw a megachurch pastor be arrested in the Tampa Bay area for doing just that, the holding church services. Now, whether or not the counties in Florida can say you cannot have church services. Well, that remains to be seen.

Hari Sreenivasan: What is happening on the economic front when people stop traveling to one of the big destinations that profits from their travel and even has an entire cruise ship industry that's based there?

Steve Mort: Well, the cruise ship industry, of course, is in critical condition at the moment. And that is a big engine, particularly in the south of the state at Port Everglades. And one of the largest cruise ports in the nation at the Port of Miami. The tourism industry is particularly susceptible to shocks. And this is something that we've heard over and over again from tourist industry analysts in this part of the world that this is much, much worse than September 11th. We saw closures for a short period of time, tourist attractions after that happened in 2001. Now, we've had Disney closed for multiple weeks. Disney had initially said that they were going to continue to pay their workforce, which number some 70,000 people here in the Orlando area by far and away the largest employer. They said that they were going to continue to pay their workforce through the end of March. Well, now we have news that Disney will begin furloughing people coming through at the middle of April. So when you get those furloughs coming into force, you're going to see a lot more people added to the unemployment rolls. And in fact, the unemployment rolls in Florida have really, really swelled just over the last couple of weeks. We've seen 227,000 Floridians filed for jobless benefits just in the last week. That number was about 74,000 the previous week. So this is an economy which is heavily reliant upon part time work, temporary work and that tourism industry.

Hari Sreenivasan: Steve, are health experts that you're hearing from concerned that it took Florida this long, especially considering how many senior citizens are there?

Steve Mort: Yes, they are. There have been measures put in place earlier on in the game to protect the elderly community particularly. There's been a ban, a prohibition on visits to nursing homes throughout the state. And in fact, I spoke to a spokesman for the Florida Health Care Association, which is an umbrella group for nursing home facilities and rehabilitation facilities throughout the state. They do say they are concerned. I mean, older people don't understand that they can't go and visit their relatives at nursing homes. Nursing homes of course, they've got to have those critical supplies. The people that work at the nursing homes have got to leave at the end of the day and they've got to come back again. Many of them, they tell me, are implementing screening procedures, very tight screening procedures, making sure that they check the temperatures, they check the vitals of staff when they come back. But this, as you know, we have one of the largest populations of seniors in the nation here in Florida. And of course, as we've been able to tell over the last couple of weeks, they are one of the most vulnerable communities when it comes to COVID-19. So that indeed is a big concern as well. Many hospitals telling us, you know, they're having trouble getting the equipment they need. The mayor of Orange County saying that that will, in fact, be a shortage of ventilators. And he put that down directly to what he called the inadequate state and federal response to this. So a lot of local leaders are not pulling any punches when it comes to criticism of both the state and federal governments and how that's left them short of supplies.

Hari Sreenivasan: Steve Mort, thanks so much for joining us.

Steve Mort: Thank you.

哈里·斯里尼瓦桑：就在昨天，罗恩·德桑提斯发布了全州范围内的命令，要求大家待在家里，以应对新冠病毒的传播。在此之前，一些郡和城市已经下达了类似的命令。我采访到了PBS记者史蒂芬·莫特，询问了佛罗里达州的变动和进展。

哈里·斯里尼瓦桑：史蒂芬，本周，佛罗里达州有个重大新闻是州长发布了让大家闭门不出的命令。请问这个命令有什么影响吗？

史蒂芬·莫特：这是佛罗里达州各地政府都关心的问题。本周州长终于发话说要实行全州范围内的禁令。现在，大家有一些疑惑，因为州长一开始说的是他的命令优先级高于其他所有命令，要求大家不能逾越这条命令。实际上，州长德桑提斯周三晚上发布了用以澄清的命令，也表达了这一点。那条命令说的是——如该命令与所有当地政府的命令有冲突，那么以该命令为准。不过，就在第二天，也就是周四的时候，德桑提斯确实也说了当地各政府可以做更多工作，德桑提斯说自己发布的命令只是一个基石。所以现在大家满脸问号。如果这条命令优先级高于当地政府的举措，那么就会为宗教服务等打开便利之门。有些行为是一些当地政府要求大家不能做的。实际上，我们了解到，坦帕湾就有一名大教会的牧师因举行教堂活动而被捕。至于佛罗里达州各郡是否要求不能进行宗教服务，让我们拭目以待吧。

哈里·斯里尼瓦桑：经济领域有什么影响吗？毕竟现在大家不能去大型景点，不能促进旅游业增收，同时会对以旅游业为基础的邮轮业产生影响吗？

史蒂芬·莫特：邮轮业当然现在也处于千钧一发的时刻。邮轮业是该州的重要引擎，尤其是对南部的埃弗格雷斯港来说更是如此。美国最大的邮轮港口就在迈阿密港。旅游业尤其容易受到该禁令的冲击。旅游业的许多分析师曾多次表示，这次是比9/11还要更加严重的冲击。自9/11事件发生后，许多景点都关停了一阵子。如今，迪士尼已经关停几周之久。一开始，迪士尼说自己依然会支付员工的工资，而迪士尼在奥兰多的员工数已达约7万人，是迄今为止员工数最多的时候。迪士尼表示自己会支付工资到3月底。现在我们又了解到，迪士尼会在4月中旬让一些员工休假。所以如果把这部分人群也加入进来的话，失业人数又有增加。实际上，过去几周里，佛罗里达州的失业人数激增。我们注意到，过去一周里，有22.7万人失业。而前一周的失业人数大概是7.4万。这部分经济十分倚重于兼职、临时工作、旅游业。

哈里·斯里尼瓦桑：史蒂芬，据你了解，健康领域的专家是否忧虑过佛州用时如此之久才了解到老年人的人数吗？

史蒂芬·莫特：有的。此前，有一些措施已经出台，专门用以保护老年人。佛州禁止大家去养老院。实际上，我跟佛罗里达保健协会的一名发言人了解过。佛罗里达保健协会是一个伞形群，致力于养老院的设施和康复中心的设施。他们确实表达了忧虑。我想说，年长一些的人并不明白他们为何不能去看望养老院的亲属。当然，养老院一定要有关键性供给品。养老院的工作人员最终都要去了又返。他们告诉我，其中有很多人都在实行严格的筛查流程。确保检测过体温，确保工作人员返回时都检测了关键数据。但佛罗里达州的老年人数非常之多。当然，正如过去几周里说的，老年人是疫情面前最脆弱的群体。所以真的很让人担心。很多医院都跟我们说他们无法获得所需的设备。奥兰治的市长表示他们缺少呼吸器。他将此归因于州立和联邦响应不充分。很多当地政府的领导人在批评州立和联邦政府不作为以及供给品缺少方面，都手下留情了。

哈里·斯里尼瓦桑：谢谢你发回的消息，史蒂芬·莫特。

史蒂芬·莫特：谢谢。