Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis brought the coronavirus home to the Super Bowl, saying he believes the virus was circulating in the state during this year’s Super Bowl game, which was held in South Florida, the area of the Sunshine State with the most positive cases of the virus.
“The numbers are pretty stark. I think this thing was circulating during the Super Bowl. Now, Miami’s rate of cases is a lot higher than statewide,” DeSantis said Tuesday.
The governor said Tuesday that he believes there were already cases of the virus present in the Sunshine State but that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s criteria for testing at that time would not have allowed Floridians to be tested unless they had recently visited certain areas of China, where the virus was first reported last year.
The Super Bowl was played between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium in February. Approximately 62,000 people attended the game but countless more were in the area for the festivities of the week.