Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Blames the Feds, Slams ‘Hysteria’ as Florida Shatters COVID Records with Omicron

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) blamed the Biden administration for the COVID-19 scourge in his state while accusing other state leaders of allowing “hysteria” to reign as they encouraged mitigation measures against the virus, which he says have little scientific basis.

“Regarding Florida, you look at what’s going on in other states, where they’re letting the hysteria push them to do really, really bad things. We think people have learned,” DeSantis said in First press conference in the following Mondays Record-setting COVID-19 numbers spread across the state last month. “They’re closing schools, they’re doing things they shouldn’t be doing. That’s not how you deal with this.”

DeSantis, who was frequently promoted monoclonal antibodies since former President Donald Trump credited the treatment for his recovery, said his administration is worried about supplies dwindling, even as some treatments have already been approved. seems to be less effective against Omicron.

“We’re worried about what’s going on with getting back in supply — even more so — of the monoclonal antibodies,” DeSantis said. “It’s something that we’ve actually seen with Omicron patients and we’ve seen the symptoms resolve.”

Treatments have become an important weapon in avoiding hospitalizations for high-risk infections, but some hospitals in recent weeks have begun to cut back on treatments as more and more available evidence suggests that two of the three monoclonal antibody treatments they relied on to alleviate the former condition. variants, do not provide the same shield against severe disease to the highly contagious new strain of Omicron.

DeSantis announced on Monday that the administration’s initial decision suspend shipments of Regeneron and Eli Lilly’s treatment, based on what he called “several preliminary research” suggesting that they may not work for Omicron.

“But Omicron is not the only variant available,” he said.

Last week, the State Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo issued a letter ripped off the Department of Health and Human Services for “actively preventing the effective delivery” of monoclonal antibody treatments even as the administration began allocating doses of sotrovimab, a method Treatment seems to continue to be effective for the Omicron variant.

Ladapo on Monday also said he hopes to “relieve the experimental mentality that the federal government has attracted us to over the past two years,” following Florida. report more than 298,000 new COVID-19 cases last week and the test positivity rate was 26.5%.

“It’s important that people make the decisions they want about vaccinations and enjoy the fact that many people have natural immunity,” he said.

Although there has been some debate as to how many new cases can be attributed to the Omicron variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that this disturbing new strain of bacteria accounted for about 58.6% of new cases in the United States in the week ending Christmas.

Adjusting its position for halted shipments last week, HHS said that clinical guidelines published by National Institutes of Health (NIH) on December 30, 2021, indicated a “significant change in prevalence” of the Omicron variant and chose to allow states to continue ordering both products.

The Broward Medical Center press conference marked the governor’s first public event since he was criticized for appearing at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on New Year’s Eve during the following Orange Bowl week. when a flurry of new infections fueled by the Omicron variant rattled the state.

DeSantis, who has established a national profile as a leading opponent against various mitigation measures related to the coronavirus, also blamed the CDC for “bad policy” in isolating healthy children that caused Some students do not attend school when the circumstances occur in the classroom.

The governor stressed – despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary – that masks are largely ineffective and that the kids “don’t need to do any crazy mitigations.”

“Let them be kids,” he said. “I think it’s pretty obvious, a lot of this mitigation, it hasn’t worked in time.”

DeSantis specifically studied face masks, shredding Dr. Anthony Fauci and other experts who have continued to defend their use, claiming that “it’s not really science in the end. ”

“You even see some of these TV doctors on CNN admitting that cloth masks won’t stop — protecting against Omicrons,” DeSantis said. “Simply putting the fabric on and thinking that somehow it will provide good protection, that’s just not accurate.”

The comments appear to refer to an effort by CNN Medical Analyst Dr Leana Wen urging Americans to upgrade their masks due to Omicron’s contagion.

Wen tell the net, adding that scientists have promoted widespread use of face coverings that are better able to block out tiny particles for months. “You can wear a cloth mask on top, but don’t just wear a cloth mask alone.”