by Leslie Eastman
It’s hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago, the media went into hysterics over the COVID-19 cases in Florida.
Florida has set a new record for Covid-19 hospitalizations for the third day in a row, while the state’s ICUs reportedly deal with a massive surge in younger Covid patients compared with earlier in the pandemic, but Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis insists that Covid concerns in the state are mainly just “media hysteria.”
Since then, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has focused on offering the citizens of his state easy access to monoclonal antibody treatment centers.
We set up 25 monoclonal antibody sites across Florida, and we’ve seen about a 70% reduction in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Early treatment saves lives. pic.twitter.com/XyIacyCv2K
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 1, 2021
He also tapped a doctor skeptical of many Covid-19 health measures, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, as Florida’s new state surgeon general.
“Joe has had a remarkable academic and medical career,” DeSantis said, adding that Ladapo graduated from Wake Forest University, received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Ladapo, however, has been critical of many public health measures, including mask-wearing, lockdowns and vaccines, and his appointment comes as public health experts urge the state to take a more serious approach to the pandemic.
DeSantis, like Ladapo, has railed against measures like mask and vaccine mandates, with the governor saying last week that he will use fines to punish county and city governments for requiring their employees to get vaccinated. DeSantis also recently won his latest legal bid to preserve his executive order allowing parents, not school districts, to decide whether their kids would weak masks in school.What have been the results of this focus on treatments rather than vaccine and mask mandates? A plunge in the number of cases.
As the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to drop in Florida, the state on Friday reported an average of 5,396 new cases per day over the last week.
This is the fifth straight week the number of weekly COVID-19 cases has declined.The media has been nearly silent on the recent numbers from Florida. However, ignoring the DeSantis success no longer means that the result has not been noted.
As the mainstream media and Democrats seem to have abruptly halted or at least slackened their barrage of criticism toward Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, questions arise as to the reasons behind the sudden silence, co-host Buck Sexton discussed Thursday on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show.”
For more than a year, DeSantis and the Sunshine State were a favorite bugaboo of the left and prominent members of the mainstream media whenever the topic of coronavirus mitigation came up.
On “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,” host Buck Sexton noted that essentially in the time since then, little has been said by the pundits about DeSantis or Florida.
“Why is it that you are not hearing about the Florida COVID caseload so much anymore?” he asked. “We were here talking to you about it in July because the media was convinced Ron DeSantis… ‘doesn’t care about old people or children dying of COVID’ – [saying] horrible things.”
The media won’t report it, so let’s do it for them: Hospitalizations in Florida down -69% with no change in statewide policy or new mandates!
“Miraculous!! A powerful testament to the power of natural immunity and democratic values!” fashionable commentators widely agree. https://t.co/f5esIuXa33
— Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) October 1, 2021
The state of Florida now has the 41st highest covid rate in the country. Cases are down 57% in the past 14 days without a mask mandate or vaccine mandates. Just sharing the data since most in the media won’t. pic.twitter.com/INc4c5oAWl
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 29, 2021
On the other side of the COVID-19 response spectrum is Dr. Anthony Fauci, who apparently focuses on vaccines, masks, and more vaccines.