As Florida shatters its record for new coronavirus cases, Democrats ask, 'Where is Ron DeSantis?'

As Florida reported practically 47,000 new coronavirus circumstances, once more shattering its single-day record because the begin of the pandemic, Democrats and critics referred to as on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to do extra to handle the state’s spike in infections pushed by the highly-transmissible omicron variant.

The state on Wednesday reported 46,923 new circumstances from Tuesday, because the omicron surge practically doubled Florida’s earlier peak over the summer season. The state, which broke the record for new each day infections that was simply set on Christmas Eve, is now averaging greater than 30,300 new covid-19 circumstances a day, in accordance with information tracked by The Washington Post – second within the nation to New York.

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While deaths proceed to say no in Florida – a mean of 18 a day as of Wednesday – the variety of circumstances has exploded by 182% in comparison with the earlier seven-day interval. Florida now has reported 4 million complete circumstances because the pandemic started, becoming a member of California and Texas as the one states with no less than 4 million coronavirus infections since 2020.

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Amid the surge, some within the state have argued that DeSantis, who just lately signed a number of payments into legislation to curtail vaccine and masks mandates, has not performed sufficient to assist in opposition to omicron. Orange County, Fla., Mayor Jerry Demings, a Democrat, claimed at a information convention this week that counties have but to obtain funding for elevated coronavirus testing throughout the holidays. He additionally questioned why DeSantis has been largely absent throughout the state’s record-breaking interval.

“We have not received any assistance from the state of Florida at our testing sites,” he stated on Tuesday. “Our residents, all Florida residents, should be outraged and they should ask the question, ‘Where is our state? Where is our governor? Where is Ron DeSantis now?'”

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DeSantis, one of the crucial outstanding Republican critics of President Joe Biden’s dealing with of the pandemic, has not made a public look since a Dec. 17 information convention, in accordance with Florida Politics. DeSantis additionally appeared on Fox News on Dec. 19, saying that he had but to obtain a coronavirus booster shot.

“I’ve done whatever I did, the normal shot, and that at the end of the day is people’s individual decisions about what they want to do,” the governor instructed Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on the time.

Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, instructed The Washington Post on Thursday that omicron is accountable for a lot of the new circumstances in Florida, including that lots of the new infections seem like “asymptomatic or mild.” She famous how states akin to California and New York are additionally breaking data for new infections, saying it is “evident that the vaccine passports, mask mandates and other heavy-handed government interventions did not achieve their stated goals.”

“In Florida, we are continuing to emphasize the importance of early treatment and doing everything possible to expand access to clinically effective treatments,” Pushaw stated in a press release. “Governor DeSantis is not imposing any mandates or lockdown policies that have already proven ineffective in other parts of the country.”

More than 4,400 individuals in Florida are hospitalized with covid, together with 498 within the intensive care unit. While the hospitalization fee has elevated by greater than 100% in comparison with final week, Pushaw argued that “the percentage of cases requiring hospitalization as of now is lower overall than we saw with previous variants.”

The spike in Florida comes as coronavirus circumstances are hovering nationwide, with the nation averaging about 240,000 new infections a day. Ahead of New Year’s Eve, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s high infectious-disease professional, has urged Americans to rethink any potential occasion plans and inspired smaller gatherings to assist stop the unfold of the virus.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, instructed reporters Wednesday that hospitalizations stay “comparatively low,” noting that these totals are likely to lag behind infections by roughly two weeks. But she emphasised that omicron seems to trigger milder signs, particularly for vaccinated individuals.

In Florida, 63% of the inhabitants is vaccinated, which is barely above the nationwide fee of 62%.

Since DeSantis’s final appearances, circumstances have skyrocketed in Florida and throughout the nation because of omicron, which is now the nation’s dominant variant.

The latest focus from the DeSantis administration has been on the U.S. authorities’s pause on distributing monoclonal antibodies which have been used as remedy for many coronavirus sufferers who haven’t been vaccinated. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo just lately accused the Biden administration of “actively preventing” the distribution of the monoclonal antibody remedies from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly. The authorities famous that the remedies have been unlikely to be efficient in opposition to omicron.

In a Tuesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Ladapo wrote that the pause from the administration would trigger an “immediate and life-threatening shortage of treatment options.” DeSantis has touted monoclonal antibody remedies, particularly Regeneron, as an efficient approach to maintain individuals out of the hospital.

Many of the new circumstances are coming from South Florida, the place the state’s three most populous counties – Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach – have seen their case totals enhance by near 400% in latest days, in accordance with the Miami Herald. Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist with the University of South Florida, instructed WPTV that omicron outpacing the delta variant could possibly be trigger for concern for the state’s hospitals. It took greater than a month for delta to common 21,000 each day circumstances.

“For omicron, that’s happened in 12 days,” Salemi stated.

Pushaw stated that the Jackson Health System in Miami reported Thursday that greater than half of its sufferers who examined constructive for the virus have been “incidental positives” – “people who were admitted to the hospital for other reasons (not covid-19 symptoms) and incidentally tested positive upon admission.”

More than 776,000 new coronavirus exams have been administered in Florida over the previous seven days, the second-highest complete within the nation, in accordance with information tracked by The Post. Twenty-two p.c of those that’ve examined have been constructive. Raul Pino, director of Florida Department of Health in Orange County, acknowledged the shortage of sources for much more testing within the space. Not even including extra testing websites may stop the division from being overwhelmed, he instructed the Associated Press.

“A lot of people are wanting to get tested,” he stated.

Some on social media documented the lengthy traces for in-person testing within the state. A video posted to Twitter by Brian Entin, a journalist with NewsNation Now, confirmed the miles-long line of vehicles ready to enter Miami-Dade County’s 24-hour testing website on Wednesday evening.

“This is the wait before you even get into Tropical Park where you have to zig zag around cones before the testing area,” he tweeted.

Democrats and critics have been fast to accuse DeSantis of being “MIA.” Democratic State Sen. Annette Taddeo, who is in search of the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022, shared a message she purportedly obtained from a buddy a couple of tough scenario at a hospital in her district.

“And where’s Ron DeSantis?” she tweeted.

On MSNBC, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is additionally working for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, was requested by host Tiffany Cross on Wednesday if she knew why DeSantis had not made a public look throughout the vacation surge.

“I have no idea … I haven’t seen him since December 17,” Fried stated. “I don’t know where he is.”

On Thursday, as DeSantis’s title trended on Twitter, Pushaw tweeted that the governor “has a wife and 3 kids ages 1-5, and it’s not surprising if he wants to take a few days off at Christmas to spend time with his family, especially as his wife is battling cancer.”

“I don’t criticize Biden for going to Rehoboth Beach all week, right?” she wrote.