One day after President Joe Biden criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it a “bad health policy” and asking him to “get out of the way,” the governor fired back.
Biden, during a press briefing at the White House, was asked about moves by DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott that have included such things as blocking school districts from requiring students to wear masks.
“I believe the results of their decisions are not good for their constituents,” Biden said, “And it’s clear to me and to most of the medical experts that the decisions being made, like not allowing mask mandates in school and the like, are bad health policy — bad health policy.” He continued: “I say to these governors, ‘Please help.’ If you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way of people who are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives,” Biden continued.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed Biden’s statement and criticized DeSantis as Florida has seen a surge in cases and hospitalizations because of the governor allegedly not being strict enough to contain Delta Variant of the coronavirus. Psaki said as leaders, the governors must “make a decision about whether they are going to abide by public health guidelines to save people’s lives or whether they are going to be guided by politics”. “If you are not going to be a part of saving people’s lives then get out of the way and let other people do the job,” she added. When asked what does “get out of the way” mean, Psaki said, “Don’t ban, don’t make it harder for people to put requirements on masks or asking for vaccination status,” referring to Governor Abbott’s orders prohibiting cities, school districts, public-health authorities, or government officials from requiring people to wear facemasks (see here) and DeSantis’ order prohibiting mask mandates at schools (see here), and also orders prohibiting public or private entities from asking for COVID-19 vaccination proof (see here and here), aka “COVID passports.” Bans on mask mandates go against the most recent recommendations of the Centers for Disease and Prevention Control (CDC) to mask up in COVID hot spots regardless of one’s vaccination status.
Speaking on Wednesday, Governor DeSantis did not mince words in responding to Washington’s scolding.
Saying Joe Biden ran for president promising he would “shut down the virus,” but instead “imported more virus from around the world by having a wide-open southern border,” DeSantis said that “whatever variants [of COVID-19] are around the world, they are coming across that southern border,” referring to the practice of trafficking people from various countries. While migrants from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and other Central American countries traditionally make up the bulk of illegal immigration, it has been reported that there has been an uptick in people coming from places all over the globe — such as Asian countries, Haiti, Cuba, and even Romania and India.
By allowing people to “pour through the border,” not just “letting them through, but farming them out all across our communities” and “putting them on planes and busses,” Biden does not “shut down the virus,” DeSantis said; “he is helping to facilitate it.”
“The big solution” that Biden proposes as a remedy to fight the spread, DeSantis continued, is to “have the government force kindergarteners to wear masks in school,” and stressed in Florida, the parents will be in charge of that decision.
Without naming names, DeSantis went on to cite the “top medical people” in the Biden administration recommending parents to wear masks at home around unvaccinated children, which he said was “insane.” DeSantis most likely referred to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, who said on Tuesday, “The recommendations are for kids under 12 that they avoid being in places where they might get infected, which means recommendations of mask wearing in schools and at home,” Collins said in a CNN segment. “Parents of unvaccinated kids should be thoughtful about this and the recommendation is to wear masks there as well.” Even though the advice may sound “weird,” Collins said, it was “the best way to protect children.” The statement was backtracked the same day.
“Joe Biden also believes that vaccination should be mandated by force of government and that you should have to show vaccination status to be able to participate in society,” DeSantis said, and underlined that in the Sunshine State, it was announced from the beginning of the vaccination campaign that while vaccines will be available for all, there will be no mandate to take them. “That’s ultimately an individual’s choice to be able to do it,” the governor added.
DeSantis also observed Biden “rejects science” while denying that people who have recovered from COVID have long-lasting immunity, but are still required in places such as New York to produce proof they have gotten a vaccine they don’t even need to protect themselves. Biden, per DeSantis, wants people to share their personal medical information to simply participate in everyday life, yet “he thinks it’s too much of a burden to show a picture ID when you’re voting, so no voter ID.”
DeSantis concluded his speech by implying that he will not tolerate Biden trying to interfere with the rights of Florida parents to decide on the best health practices of their children, or shut down schools again, or impose any sort of lockdowns or mandate. “I’m standing in your way,” DeSantis warned.
“So why don’t you do your job? Why don’t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about COVID from you,” De Santis said to the final applause from the public.
