Gov. DeSantis: ‘In Florida, We Will Not Let them Lock You Down’ over Any Coronavirus Variant

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Monday said his administration will not allow “media-driven hysteria” to infringe on the rights of Floridians, promising, “In Florida, we will not let them lock you down.”

“We’re not in Florida, going to allow any media-driven hysteria to do anything to infringe peoples individual freedoms when it comes to any type of COVID variants,” DeSantis said during a Monday press conference in Orlando, Florida.

“And when I saw Fauci on TV yesterday saying that he couldn’t rule out lockdowns, and even today President Biden didn’t rule it out. He said no not now, for now. And let me just say, in Florida, we will not let them lock you down,” the governor vowed.

“We will not let them take your jobs. We will not let them harm your businesses. We will not let them close your schools. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The lockdowns didn’t stop COVID,” he said, rating against the failed efficacy of mask mandates as well.

“Forced masking, they said last year would end the pandemic if 80 percent wore masks. Many more than that were wearing masks and it hasn’t worked,” he said.

“They said you could get COVID off surfaces which isn’t true. They have not been honest about the origins of the virus and they haven’t been forthright about natural immunity,” DeSantis continued, noting that he stood as one of the first governors in the country to call for travel restrictions at the start of the pandemic.

Additionally, speaking of the omicron variant, DeSantis said there is not yet any “meaningful” data on the variant and noted that the South African doctor who identified it described it as “very mild.”

“So why would you be doing knee-jerk reactions?” he asked, adding that even Dr. Fauci admitted that coronavirus will not go away, instead becoming an “endemic respiratory virus.”

“So that’s just the reality,” DeSantis said, adding that the virus has already spread and has a seasonal pattern.

DeSantis has continued to stand against those he has described as lockdown lobbyists, signing legislation this month protecting Floridians’ jobs over coronavirus vaccine mandates.

And as blue states experience major spikes of the virus, including Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania, Florida continues to report the lowest coronavirus case rate per capita in the nation, along with Alabama and Hawaii.

Indeed, as DeSantis said, President Biden on Monday failed to rule out future lockdowns, telling a reporter that lockdowns are off the table “for now.”