Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the deadly pandemic sweeping through his state could help decide whether President Donald Trump gives his acceptance speech next month at the Republican convention to a packed crowd — or a lot of empty seats.

Currently, Florida is operating under an executive order that DeSantis put in place to combat the virus spread which requires that all big sports venues operate at no more than 50 percent capacity, the governor’s spokeswoman Helen Aguirre Ferre confirmed.

That includes VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, the 15,000-seat venue where Republicans intend to gather from August 24 to 27 to hold the hoopla-packed portion of Trump’s renomination for a second term.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, the city’s popular Republican mayor, said recently they are keeping close tabs on the unfolding crisis to see whether it’s safe enough to have a mass gathering like the GOP convention at the end of August.

Ultimately, however, it’s the “governor’s call” on whether it’s safe enough to lift the 50 percent mandate, Curry spokeswoman Marjorie Dennis said Monday via email. “Mayor would not have to sign off.”

NBC News asked Ferre whether DeSantis was planning to rescind the order in time for the convention. There was no immediate reply.

Florida on Sunday shattered its single-day record with 15,299 new coronavirus cases, eclipsing by 3,000 a daily record set earlier in the pandemic by New York state.

In total, Florida has recorded 282,435 cases and 4,380 deaths, according to an NBC News tally. And the two-week death total is up 90 percent over the previous two weeks. There were 487 deaths from June 15-28 and 927 more from July 29 to July 12.

Jacksonville is getting the convention because Roy Cooper, the Democratic governor of North Carolina, concerned about the spread of Covid-19, would not guarantee Trump a full house at the venue in Charlotte where the re-nomination was supposed to be held and said the whole event should be scaled back.

In stepped DeSantis, a loyal Trump ally, with the offer to help the GOP leader and bring some much-needed tourist dollars to his state by holding the splashiest portions of Trump’s re-nomination in Jacksonville.

That was before Florida began breaking records for new coronavirus cases and after the governor extended his executive order mandating that large indoor gatherings stay under 50 percent capacity.

Now DeSantis is faced with a difficult decision: possibly anger Trump by keeping the mandate in place or face blowback from Floridians increasingly concerned about the spread of the virus.

“I wouldn’t want to be on that call to Trump,” said Mitch Ceasar, Florida’s former Democratic Party chairman. “Florida is now the epicenter of the virus both nationally and internationally, and I say that sadly as a Florida resident.”

Trump, in a recent interview, said he’s willing to be “very flexible.”

“We’re always looking at different things,” Trump said on Gray Television’s “Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren.”

“When we signed a few weeks ago, it looked good,” the president added. “And now, all of a sudden, it’s spiking up a little bit. And that’s going to go down. It really depends on the timing. Look, we’re very flexible.”

Several Jacksonville residents who live near the arena have filed a lawsuit to stop the Republican National Committee from holding the convention their neighborhood, calling it a health risk and noting that a number of people became infected after Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, because they didn’t wear masks or practice social distancing.

Curry left open the possibility of asking the RNC to move the convention out of Jacksonville “if we have “widespread community spread, and the ICU’s are full and hospitals can’t handle it.”

Susan McManus, a professor of political science at the University of South Florida, said moving the convention out of Jacksonville is not likely because that would be “hitting big Republican donors twice in a negative fashion.”

While the concerns about the GOP convention becoming a disease incubator are very real, Florida has already lost billions of dollars because of the pandemic, she said. DeSantis has to come up with a way of keeping the event in Florida while ensuring that people are safe.

“I think if Trump’s people are pragmatic, and that’s a big if, they have to be aware of the position the governor is in,” she said. “This is the season where the tourists come in and spend money, and the state’s budget has already suffered as a result of the pandemic. Florida is really in a bad place.”

So the triumphant multi-day extravaganza that Team Trump envisioned might have to be scaled back, and feature social distancing and mask wearing, said McManus.

DeSantis and Trump “both have strong personalities,” McManus said. “I still think there’s going to have to be some give and take to make this work. An all or nothing solution doesn’t benefit either of them.”

Trump is still hoping to pump up the pageantry and deliver an acceptance speech before an adoring crowd at a venue that has played host to sold-out concerts by performers like Rihanna, Garth Brooks, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and others, the Associated Press reported.

But the script of the 2020 GOP convention is already different from previous galas. Key events like the roll call of states to renominate the president – a highlight of any convention – will be conducted by proxy votes in Charlotte. And a half-dozen prominent Republican senators ,at least two of whom expressed concerns about Covid-19, have already said they were not coming to the convention.

NBC reached out to the RNC for details about how the arena would be retrofitted to allow for social distancing but got no response.

There has also been a proposal to move the convention to an outside venue like TIAA Bank Stadium to minimize the risk of transmission.

“This seems very unlikely because of the heat and humidity and high chance of thunderstorms in north Florida in the summer,” said Aubrey Jewett, an associate professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. “In addition, while an outdoor venue is certainly safer in terms of the potential for transmitting the virus, it would probably greatly reduce the fever pitch of the event compared to the acoustics of an indoor venue.”

And forget about a totally virtual convention.

“President Trump seems to have very little use for the idea of a totally online convention and it would provide very little in the way of exciting the base,” Jewett said.

RNC spokesman Mike Reed told the AP they’re keeping all their options open, for now.

“The convention is still a month and a half away, so there is time to adjust and make the most appropriate decisions regarding venue options and an array of health precautions that will allow us to have a safe and exciting event for all,” Reed said. “We will continue to coordinate with local leadership in Jacksonville and in Florida in the weeks ahead.”