Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put a swift end to any speculation that his state could be looking at more lockdowns due to the Wuhan coronavirus during a Tuesday press conference.
"We will NEVER do any of these lockdowns again," Gov. DeSantis said during a Tuesday press conference. Reporters had asked about the possibility that the state could see an uptick in COVID-19 cases during the fall and winter.
DeSantis left no room for doubt that Floridians under his watch would not be subjected to another financially devastating lockdown. Further, DeSantis said, prolonged lockdowns cause more harm to the health of the people they're meant to protect.
"And I hear people say they'll shut down the country and honestly I cringe," he said.
"At best, what a lockdown will do is delay," DeSantis said, pointing to the devasting disease crisis in Peru. The South American country had the strictest lockdowns in the world, preventing citizens from even leaving their homes, only to ultimately suffer from one of the highest mortality rates on the globe.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: "We will NEVER do any of these lockdowns again." pic.twitter.com/YxJh2nxiV3
— The Hill (@thehill) August 31, 2020
As reported by the Alachua Chronicle, DeSantis pointed to a variety of factors that led him to his confidence that keeping Florida open for business has been the right call all along.
In a press conference today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced:
- The number of people currently hospitalized in Florida with COVID is down nearly 60% from the July peak;
- The number of people currently in ICU in Florida with COVID is down about 52% since the July peak;
- The number of COVID-positive patients across all Florida hospitals represents roughly 6% of all the licensed hospital beds in the state of Florida;
- Yesterday—and the weekends typically see higher admissions—was the lowest single day of admissions since the middle of June;
- Florida reported about 1950 new cases today, the lowest number since June 14;
- Antibody testing at Florida’s drive-through sites has continued to register between 20% and 25% seropositivity, while the diagnostic positive percentage has fallen to the 5%-6% range;
- 27% of all hospital beds in Florida are empty, and 24% of all ICU beds are empty;
- ED visits for COVID-like illness have returned to levels seen during the first half of June.
DeSantis has been lampooned by the left-wing media and by Democrat governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York for his refusal to implement strict lockdowns in Florida. But DeSantis has stood strong in his belief that Floridians know best how to live their lives and the lockdowns would do more harm than good. Many noticed that his actions led to success and should serve as a model for the rest of the country about how to move forward.
Boom. @govrondesantis has led the way all along. He hasn’t gotten the political credit yet, and he may not for years. But he will. The reality will be impossible to argue. https://t.co/b4sDIh5Rhm
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) September 1, 2020
DeSantis was also joined by Dr. Scott Atlas, the newest member of the White House coronavirus task force, to discuss the importance of reopening schools and sending children back to the classrooms.
"There’s nothing really higher on the national agenda than educating our children, and the harms of not opening schools are really tremendous, and all that goes with the known evidence that children have very low risk from [COVID], less than influenza."https://t.co/bw0XhuS9RR
— Aaron Ginn (@aginnt) September 1, 2020
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