DeSantis: Biden should follow Fla.’s lead
Governor defends his response to outbreak with state averaging 228 deaths from COVID-19 every day
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said President Joe Biden has failed to “end COVID” and should follow his state’s lead, even as Florida experiences record-breaking numbers of new cases, deaths and hospitalizations, leaving the health care system overwhelmed.
Florida is now reporting an average of 228 COVID-19 deaths each day — a state record and by far the highest count in the nation. The daily death count in Florida has increased by 613 percent in the past seven days.
But in a Wednesday interview with Fox News, DeSantis defended his response, saying Florida is seeing “great success” in treating covid patients with monoclonal antibodies — an effective, widely available therapy that few people are receiving. The governor said the treatment should have been “a bigger part of this whole response throughout the country from the beginning.”
“You know, he said he was going to end COVID. He hasn’t done that,” DeSantis told Fox News host Jesse Watters. “At the end of the day, he is trying to find a way to distract from the failures of his presidency.”
DeSantis’ comments come at a time when the governor is continuing to resist coronavirus restrictions as the state’s hospitals are overwhelmed during what one Florida doctor recently described as “a crisis of unprecedented proportions.”
The governor also faces a growing revolt from school districts across the state on mask mandates. More than half of Florida’s students are now enrolled in public school districts with mask mandates despite threats of sanctions from DeSantis, who issued an executive order stating that only parents can decide whether their children wear masks.
DeSantis reiterated on Fox News that he and other Republican governors were “absolutely going to stand in Biden’s way,” underscoring the likelihood that feuds over pandemic restrictions will remain at the forefront of the nation’s political discourse.