Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill that deleted many references of climate change from state laws. Steve MacLaughlin, a meteorologist for NBC 6 News in Miami, called it right:
Don’t Say Climate Change! As Florida is on fire, under water and unaffordable, our state government is rolling back climate change legislation and language.
'Win some, lose some,' comes to mind. I was in the mid Atlantic during COVID where I lived on the Coast. My best friend and I decided enough was enough (re: stay at home orders) so one day we went to the beach. State department of natural resources literally pulled up and rudely yelled into a megaphone and ordered all us beachgoers to leave. It was surreal in a disgusting way for our government to say no, we can't get sunshine outdoors even if we are spread apart. I wish I were in Florida during said time where the Governor you're criticizing had the decency to allow residents and visitors freedom during a time others had their basic rights and freedom restricted. Just some food for thought. I disagree with some FL politics too but will give credit where it's due
ReplyDeleteThe state has seen more than 7,813,000 cases, and 91,590 deaths, the tenth highest per capita death rate of 50 states. Although the numbers may have been much higher - "The state government of Ron DeSantis in Florida, which manipulated Covid data to show deaths falling [protecting tourism] during a surge, has agreed to release old data and to publish new Covid data, abandoning a two year legal battle to keep the data secret."
Deletehttps://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2419
Having the second largest senior citizen population in America, I'm sure Florida had many Covid deaths, as that demographic was always the most vulnerable.
DeleteTaking into account the demographic, Florida should have been more careful.
DeleteFollowing your logic the older folks would have been better protected. But following the same logic, the demographic that wasn't high risk would have been unnecessarily penalized and faced a host of negative consequences. All goes back to the 'win some lose some,' point. Here in FL we get subjected to antiquated viewpoints in politics but we also have sunshine year round and beautiful scenery unlike places in the Mid Atlantic.
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