Which of the U.S. states has the lowest COVID-19 cases at the moment?
It’s not California, home of America’s strictest mask and vaccine requirements. Nor is it Vermont, even though 71 percent of residents there have been fully inoculated — the most in the country.
The US state, Florida has the lowest rate of COVID cases per capita. In mid of August, Florida was estimated at 25,000 new cases a day, or let’s say 116 cases for every 100,000 residents. This was supposed to be the worst rate in the country as well as in the world. Moreover, in the hypercontagious Delta variant, the State became the epicenter for the global pandemic situation.
From the past few months, the average of the cases plummeted by more than 90 percent, to about 1700 cases for every 100,000 residents.
Likewise, America’s COVID ordeal, the declining infection numbers of the state are being discussed in the political talk points. Certain conservatives on Twitter along with Fox News are claiming that the turnaround of Florida indicates the policies of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who mainly spent his summer on prohibiting businesses, government, and local schools from minimizing transmission by mask mandating while emphasizing the post-infection treatment such as monoclonal antibodies instead.
“DeSantis critics and the mainstream media remain quiet as Florida’s COVID numbers drop,” according to a recent headline on Newsmax.
“Well it’s official, Florida currently has the LOWEST per capita COVID cases among the contiguous 48 states,” Steven Krakauer, executive producer of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” tweeted last week. “Looking forward to the next batch of DeSantis media coverage that’s sure to be coming soon…”
“And they’ve done it without mask or vaccine mandates,” added radio host Clay Travis. “This is why Ron DeSantis terrifies the coronabros. Because all their shutdowns & mandates, which destroy freedoms, provide no benefits.”
But is that true? Did DeSantis “do” anything to improve Florida’s COVID numbers? And does the state’s 180-degree turn somehow prove that more cautious policies “provide no benefits”?
The answer is no. Conclusively, a stringent policy would do wonders for a country during a pandemic situation. However, the leaders like DeSantis do have the power for encouraging and discouraging safety precautions along with responsibilities to help normalize the situation in the state.
