As the Biden team braces for what is likely to be a spate of legal challenges against the proposed vaccine mandate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis torpedoed the rule quickly.
He then countered with a fine if state entities proceed to implement it.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday said any cities or counties in the state that mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for public government employees will be fined $5,000 per worker.Gov. DeSantis spoke in Alachua County Monday morning. He said government agencies in violation could potentially face millions of dollars in penalties.”We are going to stand for the men and women who are serving us,” DeSantis said. “We are gonna protect Florida jobs. We are not gonna let people be fired because of a vaccine mandate.”
DeSantis asserted that such mandates violate a state law passed during the most recent legislative session that prevents private businesses and government agencies from requiring proof of vaccination.
“So if you look at places here in Alachua County, like the city of Gainesville, I mean that’s millions and millions of dollars potentially in fines. Orange County — many, many more than that,” DeSantis said, adding that “the net result of Biden’s policy is you’re going to have good, hardworking people lose their jobs, and they’re going to lose their jobs in very key industries.””I just think it’s fundamentally wrong. We should not be allowing the federal government to attack people’s livelihoods,” he said.
Ron DeSantis also derided Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates for “not following science” on the natural immunity people acquire from already being infected.
“These mandates, this is not about science,” the Republican governor said during a press conference in Alachua County. “Because if it was about science, you would recognize the infection conferred immunity.””Every single credible study always shows that it [natural immunity] provides good protection,” he continued. “So I don’t support mandates at all, but if you’re doing mandate based off this, if you were really following science, you would acknowledge this natural immunity. And instead they ignore it. … It’s really about using government power, control to mandate, much more than it is about the underlying medical issues that are involved.”
As I noted last week, the number of COVID-cases is declining as this particular infection wave recedes.
There are also some promising signs in Covid hospitalization and death tallies. The data on these tends to lag case counts by a couple weeks or more, as it takes time for people to become infected with the virus and then get sick enough to need urgent care.About 100,600 Americans are currently hospitalized with Covid, according to a seven-day average of data from the Department of Health and Human Services. That’s down 2% from a week ago.Though current hospitalizations had not been over 100,000 since January before crossing that level again in late August, the pace of new Covid patients entering the hospital is now on the decline. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows a 6.8% drop in the seven-day average of hospital admissions for the week ending Sept. 10 compared to the week prior.
DeSantis’ plan is the more intelligent choice to make, as it properly allows people to choose how to handle their own risk while preventing them from becoming unemployed….which can be every bit as harmful and potentially lethal as a coronavirus infection.
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