The editorial board of The Orlando Sentinel blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for visiting the southern border over the weekend amid a rise in COVID cases in Florida.
In the op-ed titled, ‘We’re begging you, Gov. DeSantis, stop messing in Texas and save Florida from COVID‘ the paper’s editorial board lambasted DeSantis for “burnishing his 2024 presidential ambitions with a visit to the southern border,” instead of visiting hospitals, consulting with physicians and public health experts or “huddling with his staff to brainstorm ways of persuading more Floridians” to get vaccinated.
DeSantis, a potential candidate for the Republican Party nomination for president in 2024 visited the southern border with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday. He returned to Florida on Sunday night to deliver a speech at an event hosted by Turning Point USA, and made no mention of the virus surging in the state again.
“The governor was back in Florida on Sunday but, once again, not to focus on the COVID health crisis but this time to make fun of Anthony Fauci in a speech before a crowd of young conservatives in Tampa,” the editorial board wrote.
“Always classy, our governor, who then encouraged the Turning Point USA crowd to go buy campaign merch emblazoned with Fauci mockery,” they continued. “Predictably, DeSantis said nothing in his speech about how Florida has become the poster child (except perhaps for Arkansas) for the surging number of COVID cases attributed to the wildly contagious Delta variant.”
According to the White House, Florida is responsible for 20 percent of the country’s new COVID cases.
Overall new COVID cases are up nearly 200% in Florida over the past two weeks, the board noted. The state has a positivity rate greater than 10% . Recent data shows Florida with the fourth-highest rate of COVID hospitalizations and the nation’s highest average for daily deaths over the past week.
Still, only 47. 8 percent of Floridians eligible for the vaccine are fully vaccinated. 55 percent have received at least one dose.
Asked about the growing number of cases, DeSantis said the state will not take any action that restricts a person’s ability to decide for themselves what they want to do, according to BayNews9.
“No mandates for anything, these are individual choices,” he said. He also explained that the rise in cases was not unexpected.
“I made comments at the end of April or beginning of May, I said ‘look, this is a seasonal pattern.’ We knew it was going to be low in May and it was low, and we knew when we got to the end of June, July, it was going to go up, and it was because that’s what it did last year and it’s not unique just to Florida,” DeSantis said.
“At the moment, it’s as if DeSantis has washed his hands of the matter and moved on to elections, borders, critical race theory, mocking Fauci or whatever else will get him a headline,” the editorial board wrote. “Please, governor, we’re begging you, handle the COVID problem. Be a leader.”
