Social distancing should continue for a year or more until vaccine exists, Florida surgeon general says. (WaPo)

Was Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS's staff overbearing in apparently directing Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees to leave a press conference shortly after he said social distancing should continue for a year or more until there is a coronavirus vaccine?

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We need strong laws to protect everyone's right to raise concerns.

Our lives depend on it.

From The Washington Post:

9:33 p.m.

Social distancing should continue for a year or more until vaccine exists, Florida surgeon general says

Social distancing in Florida will have to continue until a covid-19 vaccine exists, Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said Monday.

“Until we get a vaccine — which is a while off — this is going to be our new normal, and we need to adapt and protect ourselves,” Rivkees said during a news briefing with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

Rivkees said that “based upon what has been reported,” the estimates are that a vaccine will not exist for probably a year, if not longer. Rivkees said people must get accustomed to abiding by the mitigation tactics in place, including not gathering with 10 or more people, wearing masks in public and other efforts that he’s seen statewide.

“We don’t have a vaccine at the present time, so our mitigation measure is the social distancing, six feet away from each other. … As long as we are going to have covid in the environment, and this is a tough virus, we’re going to have to practice these measures so that we are all protected,” Rivkees said.

Shortly after Rivkees made his comments that a vaccine could take a year or more, a DeSantis spokesperson turned the conversation away from Rivkees and asked whether the media had questions for Mary Mayhew, secretary for the Agency for Health Care Administration.

While a question was asked of Mayhew, a DeSantis spokesperson went up to Rivkees and said a few words to him before Rivkees left the room and did not return.

A DeSantis official later said Rivkees had meetings to attend with DeSantis’s Deputy Chief of Staff Adrian Lukis and State Emergency Operations Center Director Jared Moskowitz.

“Dr. Rivkees was not pulled out of the press conference, which ran longer than expected,” DeSantis’s communications director Helen Ferre told The Post.

Kevin Cate

✔@KevinCate

This is Florida's Surgeon General being removed from a #COVID19 briefing by @GovRonDeSantis staff right after saying we'll need to social distance until there is a vaccine. https://twitter.com/lmower3/status/1249789562102198273 …

Lawrence Mower

✔@lmower3

Florida's surgeon general just said Floridians will have to maintain social distancing measures until there's a vaccine.

"This is the new normal," he said.

He acknowledged that a vaccine could be a year away.

Then he was removed from the Cabinet room by @helenaguirrefer.

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4:53 PM - Apr 13, 2020

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As of Monday, Florida has 20,601 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the state’s health department. Of that overall number, 20,035 are Florida residents, and 566 are non-Florida residents.

By Samantha Pell