Sarasota County administrator explains why no ‘safer at home’ order enacted

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — In a joint press conference Monday by the Sarasota County Government and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, the county administrator explained why Sarasota County hasn’t enacted a ‘safer at home’ order like others in the state.

In Tampa Bay, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties issued their ‘safer at home’ orders last week. Sarasota County Administrator Jonathan Lewis explained Monday morning why Sarasota hasn’t followed suit.

“I’ll let the other counties comment for why they’ve done what they have and what they haven’t,” Lewis said. “Here in Sarasota County we believe our residents are smart, competent people and they’re making good choices every day. We don’t know that adding ‘safer at home’ … which are not actually orders, they’re recommendations, we think that’s not necessary at this time.”

Lewis said county officials have looked closely at the other safer and stay at home orders around the state and believe the orders are just repeated direction that’s already come from Governor Ron DeSantis.

“We do believe they repeat the direction that’s really already come from the governor and our health agencies, which is ‘use good practices, good hygiene, keep those groups 10 or less in spacing,'” Lewis said.