Here's why I'm very skeptical of this story. Beyond the logistical problems of actually implementing such a proposal, there are some holes in the attribution and sourcing of the story. I'm not saying the story is made up, but I doubt this "proposal" is under as serious consideration as these sources make it out to be. I even think it's weird that they add the language about a decision not being "imminent." On one hand, the sources are saying the variant is so bad that it'll spread quickly throughout the whole country unless we stop travel to Florida. On the other hand, they're not rushing to make a decision? It just strikes me as strange.
It seems like most of the Disney blogs are running with the language of "various news reports," and again, I want to urge caution. This characterization is inaccurate. The original reporting comes from the DC Bureau of McClatchy, a publisher that owns multiple local newspapers including the Miami Herald. For those that don't know, most newspaper publishing companies generate all of their national political coverage from one DC Bureau that feeds the complete stories back to their "affiliates" (i.e. the local newspapers) to publish verbatim on their websites and attribute to the reporters in DC. This is what happened here. McClatchy's DC Bureau put out this story to their newspapers and some (which is weird that only some did for a story like this) posted it on their websites, like the Miami Herald and the KC Star. But even though it's appearing on several different websites, it's the same exact story/report because it's the same trio of reporters. It's one story essentially being copied and pasted to other sites. So it's one news report, not "various news reports." It's misleading to characterize it that way.
With that in mind, I find it interesting and unusual that a scoop as significant as this (even beyond the Disney-sphere) hasn't gotten picked up by other large news outlets. As far as I can tell, NYT, WaPo, WSJ, NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox, NPR, or any Florida television station or newspaper not owned by McClatchy have not run this story. They all talk to the same/similar sources (and many of them likely have wider reach than McClatchy), so once this report was out there, they should've been able to confirm it at least. If you run a Google News search on "Florida travel ban" or "Florida ban" nothing comes up except this article and the same article reposted on the KC Star's website and the Miami Herald's website as well as the Disney blogs. It very well could be a case of the sourcing simply not being up to the Standards guidelines of other news organizations (they all vary slightly), but unless this gets picked up by these other outlets very soon, that's another red flag.
Also, I know some Disney blogs have classified this story as "BREAKING" or as "Breaking News," and I just want to be crystal clear that this report is based on sources saying on background that some in the Department of Transportation are considering such a proposal. The White House is saying they're not considering this right now, so not only has this not been enacted, it may not have even been discussed at the highest levels of the White House yet so to label it as "breaking news" is problematic. Nothing has been announced. By almost all news organizations' Standards guidelines, a story about something expected to happen or something that might happen is not "breaking news," no matter how big the scoop or story is. A story can only be "breaking news" once an action is actually taken. In other words, if your headline or lede starts with "is expected to" or "is considering," it shouldn't be classified as "breaking news."
Basically, what I'm saying is that nobody should be canceling their trips; the Disney blogs mischaracterized the seriousness of this proposal at this point.
