Newsom's COVID Cases Explode, Double DeSantis' Florida Numbers
A month after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom bragged that California “continues to lead the nation with the lowest COVID case rate,” infections have rocketed in his state despite oppressive mask mandates and vaccine browbeating.
NEW: California continues to lead the nation with the lowest COVID case rate and as the only state in the CDC’s “moderate transmission” category. pic.twitter.com/DrBHNowNuP
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 4, 2021
California’s coronavirus rates are now more than double those of Florida, which banned mask orders and opposed vaccine mandates.
As of Tuesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Newsom’s state had a seven-day case rate of 112.2 per 100,000 residents. Meanwhile, Florida was at 49.9 cases per 100,000.
NEW: Florida and Georgia continue to lead the nation… https://t.co/JBneeiFBRP pic.twitter.com/QcjQJPZ0rx
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) November 10, 2021
These statistics suggest that Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing a much better job navigating his state through the pandemic than his authoritarian liberal peer, leaving so-called experts baffled.
“You’re paying for your success, which is weird,” Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington, told the San Jose Mercury News on Saturday. “You succeed in controlling the virus, and now you’re having infections.”
Mokdad said he’s confused as to why Californians aren’t “reaping more reward for their adherence to health guidance.”
California’s vaccination rate is higher than those of Republican-run states Texas and Florida (neither of which has vaccine or mask mandates), but that hasn’t stemmed viral outbreaks in the left-wing cesspool.
Predictably, the establishment media — which spent months attacking DeSantis for opposing vaccine and mask mandates — are hypocritically silent now that his state is outperforming California.
In contrast, the left-wing media heaped praise on Newsom for a similar turnaround earlier this year.
Former CIA officer Buck Sexton and radio host Clay Travis called out the blatant media hypocrisy on their podcast Tuesday.
“The COVID infection rate in New York — right now, New York state — is triple what it is in Florida,” Travis said. “And it is over double in California what it is in Florida as well.”
“Plus, California — in the past 14 days — is up 61 percent. And in the past 14 days in New York, cases are up 11 percent. In the past 14 days, Florida is down 20 percent.”
Travis continued: “So not only is Florida way better in terms of COVID cases per 100,000 people than both New York and California … the trend lines are actually getting worse for New York, Buck, and worse for California, relative to Florida.
“Yet there are almost no stories — New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC.”
“Not only is #Florida way better in terms of #covid cases per hundred thousand people than both #NewYork and California… the trend lines are actually getting worse for New York, Buck, and worse for #California, relative to Florida.” – @ClayTravis pic.twitter.com/051lNwXWq6
— Clay & Buck (@clayandbuck) November 9, 2021
Sexton first criticized the corporate media’s farcical partisanship on the subject in late September.
“It seems so odd that the media holds Ron DeSantis personally responsible for a surge in COVID cases in Florida in the summer but feel no need to mention a rapid 50 percent case decline in the fall, doesn’t it?” he tweeted.
Such a mystery pic.twitter.com/Alqd17c4DF
— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) September 30, 2021
At this point, “experts” (real or self-proclaimed) spout their opinions and hypotheses as to why infection rates are rising or declining, but much of it appears to be conjecture.
We’re still navigating and adapting to this pandemic, and neither mask orders nor vaccine mandates appear to be the perfect solution. But the vitriolic partisan bickering and coverups will continue.
As for DeSantis, he credited rejecting unscientific “Faucism” for Florida’s remarkable turnaround.
When the pandemic initially surfaced, the governor followed the advice of flip-flopping Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, by closing down his state and imposing mask mandates.
But after reviewing the data, he quickly figured out that the elderly were the highest-risk group, while COVID-19 was not life-threatening — or even dangerous — for the vast majority of people under the age of 50.
That’s when DeSantis realized how dubious the one-size-fits-all restrictions being pushed by Democrats were and started customizing them to his state.
“When they did the ’15 days to slow the spread’ and some of that stuff, you know, we followed that,” he said on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in April, “whereas I think if I had had more data, I would have had the ability to say, ‘Wait a minute, you know, why would we need to, you know, close a gym for two weeks?’
“I mean, these are younger people going to work out. If you’re healthy, you’re going to end up dealing with the virus better.”
FL Gov DeSantis “we chose freedom over Faucism, and we’re much better off for doing that”pic.twitter.com/3kcsztJTvt
— Eli Klein (@TheEliKlein) June 5, 2021
DeSantis continued: “And so, I think that it took me a few weeks — March and into April — to get enough data to say, ‘OK, you know, we’re not doing Faucism. You know, we’re going to make sure our state’s open. We’re going to get the kids back into school, and we’ll just focus our protection on elderly people, who are the ones at risk.’”
The governor said listening to so-called experts didn’t seem to make much of a difference. “Some of the restrictions we did, I think, were ineffective,” he said.
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