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   From: webermark@polaris.net   
      
   >TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s Covid crisis has wedged Gov. Ron   
   >DeSantis between two competing forces: public health experts   
   >who urge him to do more and anti-vaxxers who want him to do   
   >less.   
   >   
   >The Republican governor has come under attack from the   
   >medical community and Democrats as the Delta strain of   
   >Covid-19 sweeps through Florida, turning it into a national   
   >coronavirus hotspot. The state recorded more than 73,000   
   >infections last week — four times as many as the start of   
   >July — leading to overcrowded hospitals and more than 300   
   >deaths in the most recent seven-day period. Florida is now   
   >home to one in five new cases of Covid-19 in the U.S.,   
   >according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   
   >   
   >But as DeSantis encourages vaccinations — he said “vaccines   
   >are saving lives” — he is facing a backlash from the   
   >anti-vaccination wing of his political base. It’s the same   
   >group that praised him and helped thrust him onto the   
   >national stage for his hands-off approach to the virus.   
   >DeSantis, with 2024 presidential ambitions, has to walk the   
   >line between keeping his conservative base satisfied and   
   >keeping his state from becoming more of a disease hot spot.   
   >   
   >“Don’t let political correctness get in the way of health   
   >choices,” former Trump National Security Adviser Michael   
   >Flynn said recently of DeSantis’ comments, speaking on “The   
   >Right Side with Doug Billings,” a conservative radio host   
   >and podcaster.   
   >   
   >Another conservative radio host, Stew Peters, last week   
   >called DeSantis a “sellout” and suggested the governor was   
   >taking bribes, though didn’t specify from whom.   
   >   
   >As infections and hospitalizations surge in Florida,   
   >DeSantis has largely encouraged vaccinations while still   
   >rejecting restoring any Covid-related lockdowns or mask   
   >mandates. He remains one of the most vocal voices pushing   
   >for schools to do in-person learning, and successfully   
   >pushed to prohibit local governments from instituting   
   >pandemic regulations.   
   >   
   >It’s a strategy that helped him rise through the GOP ranks   
   >nationally and allowed for early claims of success as the   
   >pandemic in Florida did not live up to the worst fears of   
   >the national experts, despite spring 2020 photos of packed   
   >spring break parties in the state and fears of superspreader   
   >events. But as Covid infections swell across the state,   
   >DeSantis’ major achievement has the potential to backfire on   
   >him ahead of his 2022 reelection campaign and potential 2024   
   >presidential bid.   
   >   
   >DeSantis’ office brushed off the criticism from   
   >conservatives, calling a story reporting on Flynn and   
   >Peters’ comments “clickbait.”   
   >   
   >“Most conservatives in politics and media do not find the   
   >Governor’s statements the least bit controversial and have   
   >not made such baseless accusations,” said Christina Pushaw,   
   >DeSantis’ press secretary.   
   >   
   >Brian Ballard, a prominent Republican lobbyist and DeSantis   
   >supporter, said DeSantis’ conservative credentials are   
   >beyond rebuke.   
   >   
   >“I saw the Flynn comments and thought they were outrageous,”   
   >Ballard said. “If Ron DeSantis is not within the four   
   >corners of being a conservative, I don’t know what is.”   
   >   
   >“There is so much disinformation that it’s literally crazy   
   >and killing people,” he added.   
   >   
   >Yet DeSantis’ strategy so far also has the governor running   
   >afoul of some local governments and public health officials,   
   >who appreciate DeSantis’ pro-vaccination rhetoric but   
   >continue to lament what they say is a lack of urgency to   
   >tackle the virus.   
   >   
   >Officials in Palm Beach on Monday announced that they would   
   >require people to wear masks inside city buildings or on   
   >town property regardless of vaccination status. This follows   
   >California’s move on Monday to soon require state and health   
   >care staffers to provide proof that they’ve been vaccinated.   
   >DeSantis banned such “vaccine passports” in Florida.   
   >   
   >Health officials, meanwhile, are also pressing the governor   
   >to provide more assistance to frontline health care workers.   
   >   
   >“Our city emergency leaders now have daily meetings with   
   >hospitals, and while our city and fellow hospitals are all   
   >in tune to the ongoing emergency and working to help each   
   >other, we’re not getting the level of support from the state   
   >we were previously in the pandemic when the Covid burden was   
   >much lower,” said Chad Neilsen, the Infection Prevention   
   >Director at University of Florida Health in Jacksonville.   
   >   
   >He said the state needs to restart releasing daily Covid-19   
   >testing data, which ended in January, and again declare   
   >Florida under a public health emergency, which lapsed on   
   >June 26.   
   >   
   >“By declaring a [public health emergency], activities can   
   >then be authorized to help support essential services and   
   >functions in response to the emergency,” Nielsen said. “This   
   >may be emergency funds to help pay for staffing, or   
   >equipment, activation of certain support offices, and can   
   >even open up availability to federal support.”   
   >   
   >Pushaw, however, said calls for a renewed public health   
   >emergency are misguided.   
   >   
   >“People are entitled to their own opinions, but there is an   
   >unfortunate tendency among some of the governor’s critics to   
   >demand ‘a state of emergency’ on different issues without   
   >any indication of what, concretely, they believe such a   
   >declaration would accomplish,” she said.   
   >   
      
   Dago DeSantis is on the take like all corrupt rightists.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)