OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden and his administration recently extended the COVID-19-related “public health emergency.” Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra announced last week that the administration extended the “public health emergency” for the eighth time, citing “a result of the continued consequences of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.”
However, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has other ideas about how to run things. During a press conference, DeSantis announced efforts to pass new protections from the COVID-related government mandates and rules for Florida residents. The popular Republican governor described the ability to live free without the government forcing us to wear a mask as a “civil right.”
“We’re going to be — I think most of you know, you know, we were the first state in the country to ban Covid vaccine passports in the spring of 2021, almost two years ago. You know, we banned, we protected employees from being fired from their job. We did a special session in 2021 over the shots. Banned schools from requiring Covid shots for students, including universities. And you have universities around the country, they’re forcing these 18, 19-year kids to get these booster shots. When you had research and Joe is familiar, we had one of the researchers on a panel we did, where you have risk of myocarditis exceeds the risk of getting affected of Covid for these kids, and they’re still forcing that on them,” DeSantis said.
“And that’s just runaway ideology. And so we’re going to be doing that, but — so he did all that. A lot of those provisions, though, expire on July 1st. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to do a whole package. We’re going to make all this permanent, then we’re going to add some more protections for people. You should never be discriminated against based on your mRNA status at all in any way. You shouldn’t be — it should not even be an issue. We’re gonna do a whole package. We’re gonna make all this permanent, then we’re gonna add some more protections for people,” DeSantis pledged at a news conference. “You should be able to live your life without a mask … I just think it’s a civil right to be able to breathe the fresh air and be able to live your life.”
“We were the first state in the country to ban COVID vaccine passports in the spring of 2021, almost two years ago,” DeSantis said. “We protected employees from being fired from their job. We did a special session in 2021 over the shots [and] banned schools from requiring covid shots for students, including universities.”
WATCH:
DeSantis has an autobiography coming out early next year, and the timing of its release has turned some heads in the political world.
The book, which documents the popular GOP governor’s rise from a star Little League baseball player to one of the most significant figures in politics, is due out in February, just in time for potential presidential contenders to begin building a war chest and campaign organization ahead of the 2024 election.
The publisher, a subsidiary of Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch’s HarperCollins Publishing, said the book would be released on Feb. 28.
DeSantis commandingly won a second term earlier this month, defeating former GOP governor-turned-Democratic congressman Charlie Crist by 19 points. The landslide victory was seen by many political observers as an affirmation of the governor who kept Florida schools open during the pandemic, rejected mask and vaccine mandates, and took on the leftover cultural issues like critical race theory and gender ideology being taught in public schools.
DeSantis outlined his vision and first-term accomplishments during a brief victory speech on Election Night.
“Florida was a refuge of sanity when the world went mad. We stood as a citadel of freedom for people across this country and, indeed, across the world. We faced attacks. We took the hits. We weathered the storms. But we stood our ground. We did not back down. We had the conviction to guide us, and we had the courage to lead,” DeSantis said.
“We did not back down. We had the conviction to guide us and we had the courage to lead. We made promises. We made promises to the people of Florida and we have delivered on those promises. And so today, after four years, the people have delivered their verdict: freedom is here to stay. Thanks to the overwhelming support of the people of Florida, we not only won an election, but we have also rewritten the political map. Thank you for honoring us with a win for the ages,” he added.
