Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis promises to block new COVID-19 restrictions for ‘as long as [he sits] in the chair’ | Florida News | Orlando

Ron DeSantis isn’t going to back to that bad, old couple weeks or so where things were actually closed. And don’t even get the governor started on doing the bare minimum to protect the health of Floridians.

During a recent press conference, DeSantis looked at the return of mask mandates and restrictions in other parts of the country in the wake of a COVID-19 surge and said Florida will have none of those minor inconveniences.

“So just let me say it very clearly to all Floridians, you just saw Philadelphia impose an indoor mandate. You’re going to have potentially some of these other ‘Deep Blue’ jurisdictions go back to restrictions and mandates,” DeSantis said, at the Miami presser on Tuesday. “You look what’s happening in Shanghai, they have everybody under a brutal lockdown. So I just want to be very clear, as long as I sit in the chair in which I sit, no Floridian will be restricted, mandated or locked down in any possible way.”

Other parts of the world have seen a surge in cases as the BA.2 variant of the coronavirus spreads. That new variant’s spread is difficult to track, thanks to the ubiquity of at-home tests. A drawdown in government-funded testing has coupled with this to create the possibility of an invisible surge within the US. Even so, certain cities are seeing spikes, which prompted action and DeSantis’ comments.

DeSantis has made his disdain for even the most minor protections known for months. His administration actively fought to keep schools from requiring masks even in the face of surges. That some school districts refused when case numbers rose led to a game of chicken between the Tallahassee budget makers and local school boards.  He’s held onto that position to the point of hiring a skeptical Surgeon General and chastising children for wearing masks around him.

As it was in the worst days of the pandemic, DeSantis is ready to ride the “Florida is wide open” rhetoric until the wheels on the state’s hospital beds fall off.

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