Ron DeSantis stays the course on Covid as Florida cases surge
Source: CNN
Coronavirus rates are climbing in Florida, with the latest data showing Florida's current seven-day average of new daily Covid-19 cases is by far the highest in the nation.
But Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is up for reelection in 2022 and has long been rumored as a possible presidential candidate in 2024, remains steadfast in his more laissez faire response to the virus, dismissing ongoing criticism from Democrats and medical officials.
He argued on Wednesday that the recent spike is all part of the seasonal fluctuations in the virus, even as he urged Floridians to get vaccinated. He touted data that shows if you are vaccinated, your chance of becoming seriously ill or dying is "effectively zero." And his spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, noted that DeSantis has been arguing for months that he "anticipated cases rising in Florida and other southern states this summer, as there was a seasonal increase last summer in these states."
"It's a seasonal virus and this is the seasonal pattern it follows in the Sun Belt states," DeSantis said earlier this week, before adding that he believes the cases will drop in August.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/ron-desantis-stays-the-course-on-covid-as-florida-cases-surge/ar-AAMrfOy?ocid=msedgntp
It is one thing to lift Statewide mask mandates, but to actively prohibit any mitigation measures was just crazy.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/05/03/florida-covid-restrictions-gov-ron-desantis-lifts-rules-statewide/4923900001/
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended local COVID-19 emergency orders Monday and signed a proposal lawmakers approved last week that limits the government's ability to impose mask requirements and other social distancing measures used to combat the coronavirus this past year.
The measure, Senate Bill 2006, also makes permanent DeSantis' executive order that prohibits "vaccine passports," saying it is unnecessary "to be policing people at this point."
"I think if you are saying that you are really saying you don't believe in the vaccines, you don't believe in the data, you don't believe in science," DeSantis said at a bill signing ceremony in St. Petersburg.
The legislation also makes it more difficult for local governments to order measures such as wearing masks or place limits on businesses by requiring emergency orders to be narrowly tailored and be in seven-day increments totaling no more than 42 days.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I hope you're right, but from the people I talk to here, I can't get any sure read on Florida voters, only that Republicans have rigged wins here since 2000. 
I went to school in Tallahassee and know a bit about the panhandle, so I'm happy/not happy to hear you confirm my expectation, anyway. Based on the history of Fla politics, if Republicans dominate there, they probably still dominate in other Florida counties.
The vicious win-at-all-costs politics of Republicans down here has existed since I left in my early 20's. Because of their normalizing of dirty tricks politics here, this is as safe a red state as MS, AR, MO or the Dakotas.
...he will piss off enough people here to have a backlash...
