HANNAH BLEAU Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday noted a sizable gap between the “Faucian pronouncements of what needs to be done” and the actual data, commenting on the issue during a roundtable discussion with physicians nationwide.
During the roundtable discussion, aimed to end “COVID theater once and for all,” DeSantis and physicians emphasized that the data often touted by the mainstream media did not warrant the lockdowns and restrictions perpetuated by blue state leaders for literally years.
There is a “gap between the overarching narrative, a gap between the Faucian pronouncements of what needs to be done, and then the actual data that supported or did not support those policies,” DeSantis explained.
As Florida continued to veer from the mainstream narrative and opened its state early on in the pandemic, drawing thousands seeking relief from lockdown enthusiasts to the Sunshine State over the past two years, DeSantis said:
And so there was time and again where the data would diverge from the Fauci pronouncements or from the corporate media or the medical establishment, and in Florida — whether that was having businesses opened, whether that was having kids in school, whether that was about mandating cotton masks, whether that was about mandating vaccines — we always sided with the data and rejected the narrative and that is something that I think was something that’s very, very significant.
“Our state is kind of like the center of the world over the last — everyone wants to come here. We never had more people moving in. It’s hard to even find property now, and I think it’s because people wanted to go to a free society,” he said.
“They wanted their rights respected, but they appreciated that, you know, we were honest about the data. We were also honest about what government could or could not even do,” the governor continued, speaking in terms of dealing with a “highly contagious respiratory virus.”
“Time and time again, though, in other jurisdictions over the past two years, with the lack of data to support it, we did have our medical establishment and politicians push repeatedly for these policies, which we know have been ineffective. And we also know they have been ineffective because the first chance they get to violate their own policies, oftentimes, they would do that,” he remarked.
Indeed, several pro-lockdown Democrats have flocked to the state in recent months, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo added that politicians “made for some entertainment during the dark days of lockdowns” in other parts of the country, noting that some of them were visiting Florida, enjoying the sun “or having a nice dinner at a nice restaurant when everyone else was supposed to be at home and wearing their masks.”
“So thank you, politicians, for at least giving us some entertainment along the way,” he added.