Florida's Rates of Both Covid Infection and Covid Deaths Falls to Lowest Levels In Country, Leaving Media Stumped: Have We Finally Found a Covid Story For Which DeSantis Is Not to Blame?

Before getting to that, note that Callifornia's fall in covid infection has halted. That is, the rate has stopped falling and has plateaued... and threatens to increase again.

Strange the left and NeverTrump (but I repeat myself) never blame bad covid outcomes in blue states on blue state policies.

The state seems to have reached what Ghaly called a plateau after its steady decline in cases and hospitalizations since the summer surge of the delta variant of the virus.

Models show coronavirus hospitalizations increasing slightly over the next month, from about 3,800 in hospitals now to about 4,460 by Thanksgiving.

The models forecast a gradual drop in intensive care patients but with a troubling upward curve starting in about two weeks. Deaths are expected to continue their inexorable climb, adding nearly 3,000 to reach a pandemic total of 74,000 by Thanksgiving week.

The rate at which each infected person spreads the disease, known as the R-effective, remains below 1 statewide but had been creeping up since mid-September until another recent dip. Anything below 1 means the number of infected persons will decrease.

That pattern is mirrored in most regions of the state, but the rate in the Greater Sacramento area has edged back above 1, meaning the virus will start to spread.

No articles blaming Newsom for this. The leftist/NeverTrump assumption (but I repeat myself anew) is that everything the left does is good and perfect and based on "The Science (TM)," so if covid spreads in a blue state or blue city, why, that's just the natural ebb and flow of an endemic disease that will always be with us now.

How strange that red states are never subject to the natural ebbs and flows of an endemic disease! No, for red states, every single increase in covid transmission is due to the the Death-Loving Governor, and every single fall in covid transmission is...

...well, that's just natural epidemiological oscillations at work. DeSantis won't be blamed for that.

Florida now has the lowest covid case rate and death rate in the country, and the leftwing press -- and leftwing NeverTrump covid authoritarians -- suddenly don't want to talk about Florida very much.

This sounds like a John Sexton or Karen Townsend story to me. Say, AllahPundit, will you be a pet and send it their way?

As Florida now ranks lowest in the continental U.S. in terms of COVID-19 rates per capita, we are proud to have stood firm in protecting liberty throughout the pandemic," Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez said in a statement. Governor DeSantis' approach was guided by science, data, and pragmatism, not fear and alarmist narratives."

In August, when the delta variant was spreading throughout the country, Florida had among the highest new cases in the nation, a seven-day moving average of more than 21,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That figure has steadily dropped ever since.

Blue states, like those in New England, saw covid cases "surge" due to the delta variant. Florida got a surge earlier, in August. New England got a surge later, in October.

The Florida surge was blamed on DeSantis. The New England surge was blamed on... covid.

Covid's just weird! Who can figure it out!

The media, like Salon Hot 25 "Conservative" blogger AllahPundit, didn't want to talk about the spikes in New England covid rates very much.

DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw said when COVID cases were high she was inundated with media requests. But now that case and death rates are low, coverage has conspicuously fizzled out.

"They were writing non-stop negative stories about COVID in Florida and implying that it was the governor’s fault," Pushaw told Fox News. "But now that we have the lowest infection rate in the entire country, those same media outlets are silent. So, you would think, if it was his fault at the peak, why isn’t his credit right now?

"It just hows they’re using this for their own political ends, their own ends, they’re not even being consistent with it," Pushaw said.

Fox News notes that despite Newsom taking a very draconian stance on covid, and imposing nonstop lockdowns (except for his rich Hollywood donors, I mean!), free Florida and unfree California have similar covid outcomes.

Suggesting that Covid Authoritarianism is not, in fact, supported by The Science (TM).

DeSantis spoke in favor of resisting Covid Authoritarianism:

Christina Pushaw @ChristinaPushaw

"We've gone from 15 days to slow the spread, to 3 jabs to keep your job. If you don’t give resistance to this, they’re going to absolutely do more."
-- @GovRonDeSantis

DeSantis recently tried to help ease Joe Biden's shipping crisis -- and help Florida, too -- by making Florida's ports more attractive for cargo shipping.

He hopes to "save Christmas."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis offered state's ports as solution to supply issues

Officials in Florida are offering to 'save Christmas' by taking in ships backlogged for weeks in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

The stranded cargo carriers are exacerbating a national supply chain crisis ahead of the busiest shopping season of the year

The California ports broke three new records Wednesday with 167 ships berthed

Meanwhile, the Jacksonville port 'has capacity,' Governor Ron DeSantis says

It would take a week for those ships to move to Jacksonville, Florida, through the Panama Canal, and officials say it's worth the trip because it will save time

Below a cargo ship enters a Florida port.

posted by Ace at 01:14 PM

| Access Comments