Though Florida isn’t the top-performing state in terms of vaccination, it’s far from a terrible outlier. The vaccinated share of the population in Florida (59.9 percent having had at least one dose, 49.7 percent being fully vaccinated) is nearly identical to that of the U.S. as a whole (59.1 percent, 50.5 percent). DeSantis has made it a particular priority to vaccinate the most vulnerable, and 99 percent of the over-65 population has had at least one dose, with 86.1 percent being fully vaccinated (which is higher than in California).
DeSantis has clearly decided on the strategy of riding out the current surge as opposed to giving in to the pressure to impose new restrictions. He is acting under the assumption that cases will peak in the coming weeks and that schools will prove that they can open safely without the need for masking. Los Angeles, it should be noted, reinstituted a mask mandate last month, and, after three weeks, cases are four times what they were when the mandate went into effect. More importantly, DeSantis recognizes that the whole point of having a freely available vaccine is to reduce the likelihood of death or severe disease to a low enough level so that everybody can get on with their lives — not to chase after COVID Zero.
The Left is desperate for DeSantis to be proven wrong, not just so he is weaker politically, but so they can feel better about their own decisions to lock down and mask up.
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