Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just said that he will not lockdown his state despite the rise in coronavirus cases his state. The state has seen more than 158,900 cases and over 3,500 deaths as of Wednesday.
Gov. DeSantis: ‘We’re not going back, closing things’
DeSantis told reporters Tuesday that the rise in coronavirus cases comes from increased social interactions, not reopening businesses.
“We’re not going back, closing things,” DeSantis said. “I don’t think that that, really, is what’s driving it. People going to business is not what’s driving it. I think when you see the younger folks, I think a lot of it is more just social interactions, so that’s natural.”
Florida one-day increase of 8,942 new coronavirus cases on Friday was its most ever https://t.co/QDyAacJQUN
— Bloomberg (@business) June 26, 2020
“We’re open; we know who we need to protect. Most of the folks in those younger demographics, although we want them to be mindful of what’s going on, are just simply much, much less at risk than the folks who are in those older age groups,” DeSantis added.
Despite mostly negative media COVID-19 news, there does appear to be at least some hope moving forward regarding herd immunity.
Reason: Coronavirus could ‘ultimately be less lethal than feared’
On Wednesday, libertarian magazine Reason reported, “The prevalence of immunity to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 may be much higher than previous research suggests according to an intriguing new study by researchers associated with Karolinska Institute in Sweden.”
“In addition, a new German study by researchers associated with the University Hospital Tübingen in Germany reports that people who have been previously infected with versions of the coronavirus that cause the common cold also have some immunity to the COVID-19 virus,” Reason noted.
Preliminary German Study Shows a COVID-19 Infection Fatality Rate of About 0.4 Percent https://t.co/XaCa8Rp1NK #Coronavirus #Germany via @reason pic.twitter.com/2M5BSu6Rki
— Chris 🇺🇸 (@Chris_1791) April 9, 2020
“If these reports stand up to further scrutiny, it would be very good news because they suggest that the pandemic could be over sooner and ultimately be less lethal than feared,” Reason observed.
Still, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has said that revisiting state lockdowns should not be off the table.
“They may have to do that. I think if you immediately say — in other words — these all-or-none phenomenon that just misleads us,” Fauci recently said.
“If you say you’re going to go back into lockdown, there will be an absolute push back on that,” he added. “You might have to do it. You never take that off the table.”
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https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/1276210824529444865
Even Dr. Fauci says a second lockdown is unlikely
But Fauci said that a second lockdown like the one the U.S. underwent in March and April is unlikely.
“New York, unfortunately, really got hit by surprise, because they had activity coming into this city from Europe when everybody was focusing on China. They all of a sudden found that they had a massive outbreak,” Fauci said.
“I don’t think that could happen under today’s circumstances of our full awareness of the potential of this virus, which is highly transmissible,” he finished.