Gov. Ron DeSantis wouldn’t commit to holding more events promoting COVID-19 vaccinations and blamed public distrust of “experts” as the main reason why more people haven’t gotten inoculated in Florida.
His comments came as the virus is booming again in the state and across much of the United States.
Asked what he would do to raise Florida’s fully vaccinated population beyond the current 54% of people 12 and older, DeSantis didn’t answer the question, saying instead it was important not to be overly critical of people who don’t want to get the shot.
“I do not agree with … some of these quote-unquote ‘experts’ who lambaste people and criticize them or say they’re stupid or something,” DeSantis said. “That’s not the way to reach folks. … I’m sorry, there’s been a lot of misinformation and a lot of bad advice that’s been given by some of these experts over the last year, these people saw that they remember all this stuff.’’
DeSantis’ comments in Poinciana, where he signed a bill creating a wildlife corridor for protected species, came after his campaign made national headlines for selling beer coozies labeled “Don’t Fauci my Florida” and “How the hell am I going to be able to drink a beer with a mask on?”
The merchandise is part of DeSantis’ campaign against coronavirus restrictions since the monthlong lockdown in May 2020 and a ban on alcohol in bars ended last summer. It’s a message that has played well among activists at events such as the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he twice won their 2024 presidential straw poll without former President Trump on the ballot.
But now, coronavirus cases, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are all up in Florida and nationwide. Cases in Florida were up 200% over the last two weeks, and the White House said Friday that the state was the source of more than a fifth of the 184,145 new cases of the virus nationwide over the previous week, with 45,603 cases. Another 59 new deaths were also reported in Florida.
The overwhelming majority of new cases nationwide, and almost all deaths, came among those who had not been vaccinated against the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another 40% of new cases were in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nevada, all states with low vaccination percentages compared with the rest of the country.
“The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated,” President Biden said Friday.
DeSantis had routinely held events at vaccination sites beginning in December, when the first Floridian received the shots, and up until the age group for the vaccine was opened up to those 18 years of age and older in April.
Some Republican officials nationwide are attacking vaccination strategies, including U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C, and others comparing people going door-to-door to promote the shots to Nazis.
DeSantis also downplayed the rise in infections among Floridians and nationwide, focusing on those who are infected after getting vaccinated.
“If you are vaccinated, though, the number of people that end up hospitalized after is almost zero,” DeSantis said. “It’s incredibly, incredibly low. So I think there’s some misinformation out there where someone will say, ‘Oh, these people were vaccinated, then they tested positive.’ Understand a positive test is not a clinical diagnosis of illness. And so if you’re vaccinated, and you test positive, but you don’t get sick, well, the name of the game is to keep people out of the hospital.”
Across Florida, 3,652 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, more than double the number hospitalized with COVID-19 only a month ago. Throughout AdventHealth’s Central Florida division, 430 people were hospitalized with the virus as of Thursday morning.
Overall, he said, “what we’ve seen in the last really couple months … I told people months ago, we would see higher prevalence because it’s a seasonal virus. And this is the seasonal pattern that it follows in the Sun Belt states, particularly in Florida.”
DeSantis also defended his trip to Texas on Saturday in the midst of the spike in cases.
He toured a portion of the Mexican border, where the state had recently sent 50 law enforcement officers.
“Our guys are doing a good job,” he said. “It’s an important mission. I think they’ve had a positive impact.”
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“I do not agree with … some of these quote-unquote ‘experts’ who lambaste people and criticize them or say they’re stupid or something,” DeSantis said. “That’s not the way to reach folks. … I’m sorry, there’s been a lot of misinformation and a lot of bad advice that’s been given by some of these experts over the last year, these people saw that they remember all this stuff.’’ Has been and still is.
“But now, coronavirus cases, COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are all up in Florida and nationwide. Cases in Florida were up 200% over the last two weeks, and the White House said Friday that the state was the source of more than a fifth of the 184,145 new cases of the virus nationwide over the previous week, with 45,603 cases. Another 59 new deaths were also reported in Florida.” And here we go with the numbers game again. The Media will report on a daily basis, the increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths—and try to link that to the number of people who are unvaccinated—to create a more ominous picture than they created since the start of the panicdemic. The red states will catch all of the flack because they never bought into the propaganda in the first place.
Of course they are up. Our Biden Government continues to release covid 19 positive illegal immigrates into our nation and move them to various locations including Florida.
Start enforcing our immigration laws, and stop the BS about the immigration system is broken. It is not broken, enforce the LAW.
WHEN these so-called experts KEEP WHIFFLING AND changing what they are saying is ‘science’, while IGNORING ACTUAL SCIENCE, OF COURSE its going to make people MORE HESITANT TO TAKE a damn shot, which does ABSOULTELY NOTHING TO STOP YOU catching the bloody Covid..
SO HOW the hell can they keep calling it a bloody VACCINE!!!
This new vaccination/mask nonsense is just another prelude to the next facecovered unidentifiable anarchist riots socially scheduled to break out again right before the next election. Biden knows it worked before and will work again if he can get his Chinese buddies to sneak in another re-engineered version of COVID just in time for the next power grab. Illegal immigration is the foreign needle that will inject it into the American body politic, just when the timing is right. These Democrats have weaponized a virus, colluded with foreign powers and are aiming to take away all that made this nation work in harmony as UNITED States.
The devil comes in all disguises, most these days are political. God revealed himself to humanity as “THE GREAT I AM”,,,the Democrat Devil hides his real intentions and character , disguising himself and presenting himself to America as “THE GREAT I AM NOT.”
These Democrat Demons and their so-called experts are definitly not Democratic, nor American, but sure want you to believe they are. Do not be deceived.
SINCE they control the CDC, the WHO, and most of hte ‘health depts'< HOW THE HELL DO WE KNOW< that the covid is actually STILL SPREADING, or are their #s of what is going on, JUST MORE made up bull???
The world is ending, according to Joe Biden. We all have to wear masks the rest of our lives, right Dr. Fauci? Dr. Fauci, did you ever disclose that you are a member of the communist party?
The ‘experts’ brought it on themselves with their high-handed tactics used against those with legitimate concerns and criticisms along with their own swinging pendulum of mandates from one extreme to another, agreeing with then opposing what was raised by the contrasting points of view. The idea now of a misinformation czar makes one even more skeptical of the official information than before!
AND since they keep saying “YOU MUST REMAIN MASKED up, even if you GET both shots”, THEN WHAT THE HELL is the point in getting the damn shot!?!?!??!?!?!?
AND since we’ve been told YET AGAIN, “Someone fully vaccinated, STILL CAUGHT covid”, yet again i am left wondering, WHAT THE hell is the point in getting the shot!???