DeSantis did it: He finally got a Florida pandemic surge that will top all the others
The aggressiveness with which Florida governor and obsessive Trump-wannabe Ron DeSantis has sought to boost his own state's pandemic infection rates just keeps ratcheting up. DeSantis was among the quickest, in the early days of the pandemic, to repeat whatever clownish claims came out of Donald Trump's mouth as if they were holy decrees from COVID's own pope. That meant denying that the pandemic was coming, denying that it was happening when it got here, denying that government could do a damn thing about it, belittling the safety measures recommended by health experts, fudging the data, and, of course, mounting multiple publicity tours declaring that his do-nothing-and-screw-the-rest-of-you approach was “winning” the pandemic.
An ambitious Republican, DeSantis read the room and decided that bellowing about mah freedoms would be a far bigger hit with the party base than please do your part during a national emergency. So, off he went. Even a partial list of all the attacks on pandemic safety mounted by DeSantis is still overwhelming; DeSantis has focused most of his efforts not on fighting the pandemic, but toward using his office to make sure no cities, businesses, industries, or state agencies are imposing public health measures of their own.
DeSantis has signed new orders and laws nullifying vaccination and mask requirements imposed by most other entities in the state. (His orders steadfastly avoid messing with the The Walt Disney Company, though; even DeSantis knows that taking a shot at Disney will end up with someone buried twelve feet deep under the concrete footings of the latest Splash Mountain.) His all-out battle with the cruise ship industry to ensure they may not require their guests be vaccinated before welcoming them onto the world's most efficient mechanism for spreading disease is among the most famous; his new order barring mask requirements in Florida schools even as the pandemic once again soars may turn out to be the most consequential.
But if there's any question over whether DeSantis is countering public safety measures during a global health emergency purely as political stunt aimed at his conspiracy rubes, selling "Don't Fauci My Florida" swag through his political committee should answer that one. Screw you, experts who suggest the mildest possible safety measures during a time of 600,000 U.S. deaths. Our family members didn't die in two world wars for a world in which I would have to briefly wear cloth on my face in a grocery store.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/2/2043376/-DeSantis-did-it-He-finally-got-a-Florida-pandemic-surge-that-will-top-all-the-others
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