DeSantis: Floridians Know ‘We Will Not Let Anybody Lock Them Down’

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) pledges no lockdowns even as a new variant of the COVID-19 virus spreads throughout the country.

The Florida governor acknowledged an impact from the pandemic but pushed back against the “hysteria” of the corporate media and argued the key to combatting the virus was early treatment.

“I would say that, if you look at what’s happened in the North in some of these states, they have had record COVID hospitalizations,” he said. “That is being driven by the Delta variant. And so, yes, we are seeing Omicron in Florida and really all throughout the country. Fortunately, Omicron is not shown to produce the same level of hospitalizations as the Delta variant did. Now, we will see if that changes, but the numbers of South Africa, I thought, by and large, were very encouraging and didn’t justify the hysteria that you saw by a lot of folks in corporate media. At the end of the day in Florida, Floridians know, we will not let anybody lock them down. We will not let anyone take their jobs. We will not let anyone ruin their businesses. And we will not let anyone close their schools.”

“So, people are going to be able to live life,” DeSantis continued. “They’re going to be able to make their own decisions. I cannot believe that something that started with 15 days to slow the spread. Now, almost two years later, you’re seeing lockdowns and closures. There are places, Maria, some of these universities, they force everyone to be vaccinated, they force them to wear masks, and they still locked down because you have these cases going up. And so, in Florida, people are going to be able to make those decisions. We do put a lot of emphasis, unlike most states, and certainly unlike the Biden administration, on early treatment when people do get infected. And it’s not just unvaccinated like they like to say.”

“Our monoclonal antibody clinics that we set up across the state, the majority of people that go to those are fully vaccinated high-risk people,” he added. “And so, since we have rolled out our monoclonal antibody clinics, we have had one of the lowest hospitalization rates in the country. So we’re going to continue focusing on early treatment, and we’re going to continue protecting people’s individual choices and freedoms.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor