Gov. Ron DeSantis declined to reinstate Florida’s emergency declaration, even as the number of people needing to be hospitalized for the virus exceeded previous peaks, and he’s also curtailed the ability of local leaders to craft their own responses.

The widespread availability of vaccines and new antibody treatments mean that an emergency declaration isn’t needed, DeSantis has said. He’s dismissed the latest spike as a “seasonal” fluctuation and called hospital capacity concerns “media hysteria.”

Reinstating the state’s emergency declaration would help local officials blunt the most recent spike of COVID-19 cases, said Alan Harris, Seminole County’s emergency manager.

“The health care system is really hurting,” Harris said. “It’s like a Category 4 hurricane bearing down on us, and we are really not taking any protective measures as a state.”

An emergency declaration would allow the state to waive its normal purchasing rules, which would speed up assistance for testing and vaccine sites, as well as make it easier for the state to contract with additional delivery drivers to supply hospitals with medical oxygen, Harris said.