The DeSantis COVID Surge in Florida grows...

East of Eden said:

Bunk, Trump banned travel from China before there was one US death

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Actually, he decided to let any U.S. citizens from China return. Everyone knew that U.S. citizens couldn't bring the virus back.

East of Eden said:

Even Fauci said Trump's China action saved probably hundreds of thousands of lives.

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No evidence for that, at all.

But a failure to take effective action, once the pandemic broke out, killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. And Trump had no excuse. He admitted on tape that while he was promising it would go away "like a miracle", he knew it was going to be deadly.

East of Eden said:

The WHO was saying in January the virus was not contagious.

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Show us that. By definition, viruses must be contagious, or they won't even exist.

Yeah, it's been a tough year, Ron.

Overall, about one in every 400 Florida residents who were alive in March 2020 has since died of COVID-19. Only cancer and heart disease have killed more Floridians during that period, according to state health department statistics. Those have each killed about 70,000 Floridians.

Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke somberly when asked about surpassing 50,000 COVID-19 deaths during a Fort Lauderdale news conference promoting the use of monoclonal antibodies, a treatment for people infected with the disease that reduces death and hospitalization if given early.

“It has been a really tough year and a half,” DeSantis said.

The Republican governor, who has advocated against mask and vaccine mandates, said the most recent wave, which began in June, has struck younger and healthier people. Numerous police officers and firefighters have died from the disease.
Florida surpasses 50K COVID deaths after battling delta wave

And it's not over. Deaths are continuing to peak, partially because of the reporting methods DeSantis imposed that delayed death reports, and partially because many who are now ill will not recover.

But the state is now averaging less than 10,000 new cases a day, which suggests that the DeSantis surge is coming to an end; the last seven-day average was 328 deaths per day. In a few weeks that may decline also.
Florida coronavirus cases and deaths

Estimates are that just masking mandates might have saved a third of those deaths. Many localities and school districts are still defying the governor, and protecting their people in spite of his threats. In some cases, the federal government has stepped in and restored funds withheld by DeSantis to force local districts to stop imposing mandates.

Kansas experimented with some counties having mask mandates, and some not. The results:


Masks clearly blunt the worst of infections, but they are no substitute for vaccinations. They do save lives, but not as effectively as vaccinations.

It appears that the DeSantis surge is coming to an end.

New COVID-19 infections continue to fall, dropping to about 8,000 cases per day. And for the first time in 10 weeks, the number of coronavirus deaths has fallen.

Infections in Florida fell to 56,325 over the most recent seven-day period of Sept. 17-23. That’s about 8,000 cases per day, according to data released by the state on Friday. It’s the lowest weekly infection rate in the state since early July.

The state reported 2,340 new COVID deaths, 128 fewer than the previous week. New case positivity also fell to 8.6 percent.

A total of 3,539,272 Floridians have been infected and 53,580 have died over the course of the pandemic, which is about to enter its 19th month. But 42 percent of infections and 37 percent of deaths have occurred since April 5, when the vaccine became available to everyone ages 12 and up.
COVID-19 deaths, infections continue to fall in Florida

And it's no surprise that Gov. Ron's hostility to masking killed many of those people:

Three studies released this week by the CDC show just how effective universal mask mandates can be. Schools in Arizona without a mask requirement were 3.5 times more likely to have an outbreak. Nationally, counties that require masks in schools had half the number of pediatric COVID cases as schools without a mask requirement.

“This just reinforces what we know,” said Perno.

“We had a relatively successful year last year in schools with masks,” he said. “And we’ve seen the exact opposite this year with not as strict mask mandates.”

Masks are required in Hillsborough County public schools, but are optional in Pasco and Pinellas. Hernando County schools require masks for students and staff, but students can opt out with parental approval.
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