(WSVN) - Democrats in the White House and Capitol Hill have said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is putting lives at risk with his response to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant.
On Thursday, Florida reported more than 20,000 new cases with 84 deaths, and the surge has caused a feud between the governor and the federal government.
At a White House event pushing cleaner alternatives to car and truck fuels, President Joe Biden took his latest jab at DeSantis. The remark follows a tense exchange between the two on the national stage over the governor’s handling of COVID-19, specifically with mask mandates.
“Some governors aren’t willing to do the right thing to beat this pandemic,” Biden said. “I say to these governors: please help, but if you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way.”
“Why don’t you do your job? Why don’t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about COVID from you,” DeSantis said in response.
The war of words has also escalated with Florida Democrats, as U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., goes after the Republican for his handling of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
“The bottom line is the governor should get out of the damn way,” she said. “He should allow local governments, allow school districts, allow businesses to make decisions as they see fit based on the science and the CDC’s recommendations.”
DeSantis recently issued an executive order banning mask mandates for students in schools across Florida. It’s an order a handful of districts have pushed back on as the governor defended his decision.
“The legislature passed a parent’s bill of rights, which I signed into law a month ago and laid down the law in the state of Florida that parents have the fundamental right to raise their children, their health and their well being,” DeSantis said. “That has to be respected by the state at all levels of government, and so it’s our belief this should be a parent’s choice.”
Across the state, more than 12,000 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Wednesday. Nearly 2,500 of them were in intensive care unit beds.
The state is averaging nearly 18,000 new cases a day, up from fewer than 2,000 during the first week of July.
In all, Florida has seen more than 39,100 coronavirus deaths.
DeSantis appeared at Tampa General Hospital on Thursday to talk about treatment options for those who become infected.
“If this is going to work, you have to do it early,” he said. “If you test positive and wait and hope it doesn’t get worse or severe, by that time, a monoclonal antibody treatment won’t turn the tide.”
The governor has threatened to withhold funding from schools that require masks for their students. Still, some districts have overridden that order, with at least one preparing a suit against it.
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