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Governor Ron DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has overseen one of the largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the country. Florida has now had 700,000 people diagnosed with the coronavirus, while nearly 14,000 Floridians have died.

DeSantis has shouldered much of the blame for the outbreak, as his initial refusal to act and premature reopening led to the worst spike in the nation this summer.

Governor Ron DeSantis

Dossier

  • March 25th: Experts say that Florida had just one week before hospitals would be overwhelmed. DeSantis defies public health officials and refuses to close down the state.
  • April 1st: DeSantis finally issues a stay-at-home order — after 33 other states have done so. It was a full month after Florida had its first two diagnosed cases of COVID-19.
  • July 6th: DeSantis’s education commissioner issues an order that requires all schools in Florida to open up for in-person instruction.
  • August 7th: DeSantis and his education commissioner threatened to withhold funding from schools that did not open up to in-person classes five days a week. 
  • September 25th: DeSantis reopens the entire state. He goes so far as to ban any cities from creating more than a 50% capacity restriction on restaurants, bars, and other locations where the disease is known to spread. 
  • Throughout the entire crisis, DeSantis has never issued a mandatory mask order, even as the state’s cases surged.