There’s plenty of COVID-related news out of Florida, and all of it is awful. A week ago this morning, we took a look at conditions in the Sunshine State, which had reached crisis levels unseen since the start of the pandemic. An NBC News report noted at the time, “The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus.”
Seven days later, things are much worse. Over the weekend, Florida once again broke its own record for newly reported coronavirus infections in a single day. COVID-related hospitalizations have also reached an all-time high. Even fatalities — a lagging indicator — have started to climb in the state.
In response, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has adopted a multifaceted plan. The first step involved taking a firm stand against any measures intended to curtail infections. During one of his out-of-state trips, the Republican governor declared, “I think it’s very important that we say, unequivocally, no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions and no (to) mandates.”
This was soon followed by DeSantis lashing out at a variety of perceived political foes, including public-health officials, President Joe Biden, journalists, and immigrants.
What the governor has refused to do is adopt policies designed to help address the pandemic. As the New York Times reported over the weekend:
Mr. DeSantis has been unyielding in his approach to the pandemic, refusing to change course or impose restrictions despite uncontrolled spread and spiking hospitalizations — an approach that forced him to undertake the biggest risk of his rising political career.
A Washington Post report added that the GOP governor is among the Republicans who’ve “decided new surges are tolerable and do not require a robust response to quell.”
The passivity in response to tragedy is difficult to understand, much less defend, but it’d be a mistake to suggest DeSantis is doing literally nothing. He’s already taken important actions such as preventing local officials from acting on their own to try to save lives, preventing Florida communities and businesses that want to impose modest restrictions to stem the tide of infections.
Even some in his party have decided not to endorse the governor’s recklessness. Referring to the Floridian’s prohibition on mask mandates in schools, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) conceded on CNN yesterday, “I do disagree with Gov. DeSantis. The local officials should have control here.”








