Despite there being no vaccine or cure being available for the coronavirus, lawmakers throughout the United States have gotten antsy while staying at home as a part of stay-at-home safety measures aimed towards lessening the deathly spread of the virus. All over the country, state governors have been looking at the limited new cases and have decided that those numbers are evidence that states can slowly be opened back up again with people being able to steadily go back to their old lives.
In my personal opinion, it seems a bit ridiculous to me that American lawmakers would okay opening up the country again when there are still thousands of new cases in the country daily, along with the hundreds of deaths, making United States the country with not only the largest amount of affected people, but also the country with the largest death count.
The Florida governor Ron De Santis had bragged last month about how unlike the states of New York and California, Florida had defied the odds and naysayers last month with relatively low amounts of new cases of covid-19 throughout the state.
He was quoted to have said, last May: “You got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida is going to be just like New York, wait two weeks, Florida is going to be next, just like Italy. Well hell, we’re eight weeks away from that and it hasn’t happened… I was the number one landing spot from tens of thousands of people coming from the number one spot in the world [New York] to my state. So we’ve succeeded, and I think people just don’t want to recognize it because it challenges their narrative, it challenges their assumption, so they gotta try to find a boogeyman.”
Unfortunately for De Santis, within days of opening up the state this June, there was a surge in new cases with a record high of 8,492 reported on Friday, the 25th, which was almost double of the previous state record of 4,500 cases that had been reported on Wednesday of the same week.
As Florida battles its new rise in coronavirus cases, De Santis still adamantly refuses to make wearing a mask, or facial covering, a requirement for those who choose to be in public as many health professionals throughout the country are urging local and state governments to enforce.
When he spoke at a press conference on Friday to touch on the subject of the new cases, he said: “We’ve advised that’s something that could make an impact. At the same time, to do police and put criminal penalties on that is something that probably would backfire. The younger people, you know, if they’re partying at somebody’s house or something, they’re probably not wearing masks. I mean, let’s just be honest with that.”
The terrifying amounts of new cases in the states that have opened up like Florida and Texas have only managed to show that the country is not ready to open up yet and how urgent it is for people to avoid large gatherings and to be vigilant in wearing masks to avoid becoming affected. To deal with the surge, De Santis has decided to ban bars across the state from selling alcohol. The probationary measure has effectively caused establishments statewide to stay closed.
Featured Image Courtesy of PBS NewsHour
