A hefty offer, a special arrangement with a law firm, and a promise of 1 million N95 masks got Florida emergency management officials into a Shark Tank-style deal for the precious pieces of protective equipment.

Barred from visiting their relatives in the midst of a pandemic, people with relatives in nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the state say they are also being deprived of information that could reassure them that their loved ones are safe.

With its stockpile of protective masks low, Florida embarked on a buying frenzy three weeks into the state emergency. More than $600 million in deals have resulted in virtually no product.

After weeks of resisting a statewide stay-home order, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on April 2 that he would sign an executive order limiting all activity in Florida to essential services for the next 30 days to try to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Data from smart thermometer company Kinsa Health found that as social-distancing measures are enacted across the country, the number of people who got sick in a community depended on how early mitigation efforts were implemented.

Gov. Ron DeSantis took to the airwaves Monday to vigorously defend his decision not to order people to stay home. “You simply cannot lock down our society with no end in sight,’’ he said at a teleconference from the governor’s office with only television reporters in attendance.

There is no handbook for governing in the time of the coronavirus, but as the number of positive cases of COVID-19 has grown more than seven-fold in Florida in the last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis has proven to be more cautious than governors in similarly situated states, including some with even fewer fatalities.

A company that makes Internet-connected thermometers found “widespread atypical illness” throughout Florida that can’t be explained by the late flu season and, public health experts warn, it may be a sign that coronavirus infections may be more widespread in the state than previously reported.