Florida governor suspends all local COVID emergency orders Nine Line News Team May 5, 2021 Articles, Nine Line News 1,649 Pour the left a big ol’ glass of Haterade. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida today issued an executive order immediately suspending all local COVID-19 emergency orders, and then signed a law restricting what both governors and mayors can do during pandemics. Take THAT! At a news conference in St. Petersburg, the governor said, “I think that’s the evidence-based thing to do. I think folks that are saying they need to be policing people at this point, if you’re saying that, then you’re really saying you don’t believe in the vaccines.” Last week, Florida’s Surgeon General Scott Rivkees issued guidance saying “Fully vaccinated individuals should no longer be advised to wear face coverings or avoid social or recreational gatherings except in limited circumstances.” Included in his guidance was the opinion that “continuing COVID-19 restrictions on individuals with no end in sight, including longterm use of face coverings and withdrawal from social and recreational gatherings, pose a risk of adverse and unintended consequences.” Ya THINK? Businesses can still require masks if they want. The DeSantis order wouldn’t affect mask requirements “in terms of what a supermarket [chooses] to do, or a Disney theme park.” The new legislation, which takes effect July 1, stipulates that any future emergency orders could only last as long as 42 days. It also gives the governor the authority to overrule cities and counties at any time, and city and county commissions the power to overrule mayors. DeSantis implied this was to prevent future Democratic governors from issuing restrictions Republican Legislatures oppose. “I think the Legislature looked and said, ‘Well, okay, what if we were in a California situation?’” DeSantis said, referring to Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has continued many of the state’s COVID restrictions. “What would the Legislature’s ability to be? And so they put safeguards for the people of Florida.’’ The new law also bans businesses from requiring so-called “vaccination passports” — in other words, requiring proof of vaccination against COVID for entrance. Half of the states in the nation (plus DC) still have mask mandates: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia. Half of the states do not: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming.å Another interesting statistic. The four states with the largest population are CA, TX, FL and NY in that order. The four states with the largest number of COVID cases (total) are…drumroll…CA, TX, FL and NY, in that order. California and New York handled the pandemic one way, and Texas and Florida handled it the other way. So every time people get hysterical about Florida having “the third largest number of COVID cases in the country,” just remind them it’s coincidentally the third largest state in the country. Duh.
