We’re not going back, closing things,” DeSantis said, as reported by Newsmax. “I don’t think that that, really, is what’s driving it. People going to business is not what’s driving it. I think when you see the younger folks, I think a lot of it is more just social interactions, so that’s natural.”

“We’re open; we know who we need to protect. Most of the folks in those younger demographics, although we want them to be mindful of what’s going on, are just simply much, much less at risk than the folks who are in those older age groups,” DeSantis continued.

DeSantis, whose office declined to comment on the cut, on Monday vetoed $1 billion from Florida’s 2020-21 budget as the state attempts to beat back a resurgence of the viral outbreak, which has sickened 152,434 people and killed 3,505 in one of the country's hottest Covid-19 zones.

The governor’s office and the Department of Education have been publicly silent about the sudden, sweeping Complete Florida veto, leading some higher education officials to wonder if there had been some sort of mistake.

“This would be one of the biggest negative impacts in higher education in the last couple decades,” said Tom Messner, executive dean of Library Learning Commons at Florida State College at Jacksonville. “It just seems like an error.”

When asked about the justification for the veto and whether there was a plan to replicate Complete Florida’s services, DeSantis spokesperson Helen Aguirre Ferré deferred to the Department of Education.

Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for DOE, the agency that oversees the Florida College System, deferred to the State University System Board of Governors and the University of West Florida, which oversees Complete Florida.

Renee Fargason, director of strategic communications and advocacy for the Board of Governors, declined to comment about the Complete Florida veto as of noon Tuesday.

“We are currently seeking clarification on the veto of this statewide program that provides resources to more than 100 public universities, public colleges and K-12 school districts” Megan Gonzalez, a spokesperson for UWF, wrote in a statement to POLITICO.

It's more fun to be a victim

There will never be an effective vaccine. I'll never get one anyway.

Does he have both legs? Or a hairpiece? Or an a HOF plaque in the underwhelming wing?

Online learning is literally pure profit for universities. Since when did they require state funding for it?

I would think the #1 job of a florida governor is to protect old people

And? You seen NY's numbers? Cuomo personally killed thousands of them

And? You seen NY's numbers? Cuomo personally killed thousands of them