A recent poll by the University of South Florida indicates most Floridians are viewing COVID-19 in the rearview mirror.
USF’s survey found that the virus trails the economy and immigration as the issue “most important” to the Sunshine State. Only 9 percent thought that; on the other hand, 71 percent in Florida believe “the worst” of the virus is behind them.
Apparently, in keeping with the trend identified not long ago by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a prominent blue-state politician also sees the relaxed atmosphere of Florida as the place to be, instead of suffering under the COVID regime imposed in his own hometown.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, was spotted last year chillin’ with a cocktail and maskless in Fort Lauderdale, according to DeSantis’ campaign.
Kenney was seen on vacay in the “Free State of Florida” but has reimposed an indoor mask mandate for his own city.
As The Hill reported on Monday, “The city said the order was necessary because it was seeing an uptick in cases and would end the mandate when two of three metrics in the All Clear Level are met. Philadelphia is the only city that has resumed its mask mandate in response to rising cases of the COVID-19 omicron subvariant BA.2.”
The mandate, by the way, has invited a lawsuit from some businesses and residents, The Hill added.
In their lawsuit, filed Saturday, the plaintiffs argued that Kenney’s mandate is “arbitrary and capricious,” and shows that Philadelphia “has rejected the guidance and/or direction of the Center for Disease Control, the leading agency in the United States responsible for the promulgation of health regulations, despite the fact that Philadelphia for most of the pandemic touted its compliance with CDC directives,” according to The Hill.
In an email to The Free Press, Delanie Bomar, the campaign’s deputy press secretary, observed, “Mayor Kenney joins the ranks of AOC, CNN Anchor Don Lemon, and California Congressman Eric Swalwell, who have all openly escaped their own states’ lockdown policies to vacation in the Free State of Florida. Meanwhile in Florida – in the words of Governor DeSantis – ‘No Floridian will be restricted, mandated, or locked down in any possible way.’”
The comment referred to the fact that Democratic U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Eric Swalwell of California were photographed partying in South Florida without masks or under any other restrictions over the Christmas holidays – even as their home states were tightening the screws on constituents to fend off the rising omicron variant.
The DeSantis campaign seeks to profit off the hypocrisy, selling “Lockdown Libs Tour” T-shirts, that feature AOC, Swalwell, Kenney and other high-profile Democrats and where they vacationed in Florida as their own communities were practicing “COVID theater.”
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