For most of 2021, COVID-19 has been in large part, sucked the air out of the state as a result of the virus's infection and death rate. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), like Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R), has maintained a rivalry with President Joe Biden (D) over vaccine mandates, mask mandates, and vaccine passports. With new information being reported regarding COVID-19 related concerns in the state, Florida has now experienced fewer COVID-19 deaths along with a dip in cases.
Over the weekend, Florida recorded its first weekly decline in deaths since early July. Moreover, in a report published by the Florida Department of Health, there were 2,340 statewide deaths in the past week. In terms of the COVID-19 infection cases, there were 54,109 new cases, which is the lowest weekly total that the state has had since the report from July 16.
This marks the fourth consecutive week that the Sunshine State experiences falling COVID-19 cases numbers, but it also comes after two months – beginning on July 23 – when Florida experienced 14,910 deaths from COVID-19.
Earlier this month, Governor DeSantis discussed declining COVID-19 cases across the state in a press conference while commenting on his ongoing battle with schools and mask mandates. In response, the Governor has received pushback from state lawmakers, calling his order for no mask mandates in Florida schools "unconstitutional."
The Governor has also been involved in a trade of verbal jabs with President Biden concerning his much-touted monoclonal antibody treatment.
President Joe Biden announced that his administration would be enacting a tougher control on the treatment, but the decision gained DeSantis a possible ally in Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D), who asked the President to reconsider the decision made.
On Twitter, earlier this month, the Governor asserted his commitment to tackling how best “to work hard to overcome the cutting of monoclonal antibody treatments to Florida by the Biden Administration.
We will continue to work hard to overcome the cutting of monoclonal antibody treatments to Florida by the Biden administration.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 23, 2021
