Florida or Floriduh?

Pittsburg CA

Description

The Sunshine State remains defiant about COVID-19, even as one county declares a state of emergency. Palm Beach County, one of the state’s largest counties, made the declaration as case counts surge. Florida’s case count has been increasing dramatically in recent days, with the Washington Post recently calling the state “the epicenter of a summer coronavirus spike.” Palm Beach County, one of Florida’s most populous counties, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, as its positivity rate nears 20%. “We are really at a very critical point,” said Dr. Alina Alonso, who is in charge of the county’s health department. As of Monday, the statewide average number of daily cases had risen 88% over the last 14 days to 29,711, according to the New York Times tracker. Deaths per day have risen 191% over the same period to 170, bringing the total number of COVID-related deaths in the state to 41,123. But while many states and cities are revisiting their pandemic restrictions, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a first-term Republican up for re-election in 2022 (as a precursor, many believe, to a 2024 run at the presidency), has defied any calls for mask mandates or shutdowns. “We can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state, and I can tell you, Florida, we’re a free state,” he said recently. Moreover, Gov. DeSantis’s office has said that school officials who attempt to enforce mask mandates could face personal financial penalties, as in their salaries being withheld. THIS IS REALLY SCARY.