Former Vice President Joe Biden said that he would lock down America again if he were to win the November election, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said his state will not shut down again.
Speaking with reporters while visiting Central Florida, DeSantis cited his state’s steep drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations as justifying his position on lockdowns.
“The number of COVID positive patients that are currently hospitalized is down nearly 60 percent statewide from our July peek,” DeSantis said. “We will never do any of these lockdowns again, and I hear people say they’ll shut down the country, and honestly I cringe.”
WPTV reported that “Florida’s new coronavirus cases on Monday dropped below 2,000, the lowest number since June 14.”
The governor’s declaration comes weeks after former Vice President Joe Biden said that he would institute a national shutdown if he were elected president in November.
“If you’re sworn in come January and we have coronavirus and the flu combining—which many scientists have said is a real possibility—would you be prepared to shut this country down again?” ABC News host David Muir asked Biden.
“I would be prepared to do whatever it takes to save lives because we cannot get the country moving until we control the virus. That is the fundamental flaw of this administration’s thinking, to begin with,” Biden said. “In order to keep the country running and moving and the economy growing and people employed, you have to fix the virus. You have to deal with the virus.”
“So, if the scientists say, ‘shut it down’?” Muir asked.
“I would shut it down,” Biden responded. “I would listen to the scientists.”
During the same press conference, Richard Corcoran of the Department of Education said that Florida schools have opened with nearly 60% of parents opting for in-person learning.
“Kids are very low spreaders [of the coronavirus] … We don’t have a case in Florida yet where we’ve seen a child in the K-12 setting spread it to an adult, but the other way around is much more dangerous,” Corcoran said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis previously said in July that his state would not lockdown again, arguing the rise in cases was the result of high social interactions, not businesses and restaurants reopening.
Speaking at the RNC last week, President Trump said that Democratic governors would lock down their states until the day after the election on November 4.
“I guarantee you on November 4 it will open up,” he continued. “It will be fine. Like most southern states. On November 4, you know these democrat governors they love shut down until after the election is over because they want to make our numbers look as bad as possible for the economy, but our numbers are looking so good. And frankly, I used to say a V, and people would say, ‘well, maybe not.’ Some would say, ‘no way.’”
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