DeSantis Blames Biden, Immigrants For Florida’s COVID Surge

FLORIDA — With COVID-19 spreading throughout Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis placed the blame for the rise in new cases on President Joe Biden and illegal immigrants entering the country.

At a Wednesday news conference, DeSantis said about Biden, “This is a guy who ran for president saying he was gonna ‘shut down the virus’ and what has he done? He’s imported more virus from around the world by having a wide-open Southern border.”

The governor said that “hundreds of thousands of people” are coming across the border from more than 100 different countries every month.

“Not only are they letting them through, they’re then farming them out all across our communities across this country, putting them on planes, putting them on buses,” DeSantis said. “So, (Biden’s) facilitating who knows what new variants are out there. But I can tell ya, whatever variants are around the world, they’re coming across that Southern border.”

The governor’s comments come as Florida continues to break records for hospitalized patients and new coronavirus cases continue to increase daily.

According to the Florida Hospital Association, there were 12,516 confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations Thursday. Florida reported 20,133 new cases of the virus — the second-highest single-day count of new cases in Florida since the start of the pandemic — and 84 new deaths Thursday, as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker.

Dr. Edwin Michael, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida, told the New York Times that Florida could exceed its hospital bed capacity by early September.

“Short term and long term, the cases are going to explode,” he said. “We are predicting that the cases will be peaking the first week of September.”

At Wednesday’s news conference, DeSantis also slammed mask mandates for students, vaccine mandates and vaccination cards, and potential lockdowns in Florida and other areas where COVID-19 is hitting the hardest — all ideas that have been supported by the president and his administration, the governor said.

“We can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state and I can tell you, Florida, we’re a free state,” DeSantis said. “People are gonna be free to choose to make their own decisions about themselves, about their families, about their kids’ education and about putting food on the table.”

Biden previously singled out Florida and Texas for accounting for one-third of all new coronavirus cases in the United States.

"Just two states. Look, we need leadership from everyone. If some governors aren't willing to do the right thing to beat this pandemic, they should allow businesses and universities who want to do the right thing to be able to do it," the president said, WESH reported. "I say to these governors: please help. If you aren't going to help, please get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives."

DeSantis promised the president at Wednesday’s news conference that he wouldn’t back down.

“Joe Biden suggests that if you don’t do lockdown policies then you should ‘get out of the way.’ But let me tell you this: if you’re coming after the rights of parents in Florida, I’m standing in your way. I’m not gonna let you get away with it,” the governor said. “If you’re trying to deny kids a proper in-person education, I’m gonna stand in your way and I’m gonna stand up for the kids in Florida. If you’re trying to restrict people, impose mandates, if you’re trying to ruin their jobs and their livelihoods and their small business, if you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way and I’m standing for the people of Florida.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki stressed Thursday that Florida’s COVID-19 surge isn’t a political issue.

"It is a fact — and data that you all are aware of — that 25 percent of hospitalizations in the country are in Florida. It is also a fact that the governor has taken steps that are counter to public health recommendations. So, we're here to state the facts," she said, according to ABC News.

Psaki added, "Frankly our view is that this is too serious, deadly serious to be doing partisan name-calling. We're focused on providing public health data information to the people of Florida to make sure they understand what steps they should be taking, even if those are not steps taken at the top of the leadership in that state."