Florida’s Roadmap to Living with COVID

Omicron grows. The media say, “Governments must act!”

Many people have done so, closing schools and bringing back the mask mandates.

Are these rules effective?

No.

My Video of the Week shows why Florida’s approach is better.

Gov. Ron DeSantis ended the pandemic restrictions and is refusing to add new ones. “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” he said. Lockdown states let “hysteria drive them to do really damaging things.”

He is hated by the media for such comments.

“Some governors are putting their own political gain ahead of children’s lives,” said CNN anchor Don Lemon.

If you watch most TV news, you’d think the rules, bans and shutdowns really save lives. Florida killed people because Florida didn’t impose tougher rules, we’re told.

“Florida leads the nation in new COVID cases,” says Action News in Tampa.

“Florida has the worst rate of coronavirus anywhere in the country!” rants “The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur.

But it’s not true.

Florida had 16 fewer deaths that other states.

New Jersey, Arizona, Alabama, and Mississippi had the highest deaths per head. New York City, home to most television anchors, and me, was the sixth-most deathly city.

Florida was better even though Florida had more elderly at high risk.

What’s going on?

It is rare for media to lie. The media often cite Florida only when there are many deaths and neglect the state when they have fewer. They trick by omission. Florida’s good numbers just don’t fit the reporters’ biases.

Even pro-lockdown politicians are aware that Florida’s less regulation is not more dangerous than the other states.

After Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained that “anti-shutdown people” are “spreading COVID all over the place,” she was filmed partying in Florida.

Two days after Rep. Eric Swalwell sneered that “Republican liars … prolonged” the pandemic … “your vacation cancelled,” he was photographed in Miami.

DeSantis laughs at this. “If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man.”

People can live better lives if there are fewer rules. Lack of shutdowns is one reason Florida’s unemployment rate is 4.5%, well below New York’s 6.6%.

Is this a sign that shutdowns or mask mandates don’t work? Florida seems less controlled.

No. We can’t say that. There’s no clear pattern.

Although strict mandate states, such as New York and New Jersey have high death tolls, California’s had fewer fatalities.

The one clear trend: Lockdowns don’t stop COVID-19, but they do destroy opportunity. California’s unemployment is the highest in America.

Florida was guilty of some terrible things. DeSantis must pay greater attention to his pro-freedom speeches. DeSantis declared that customers and workers may be not required to have vaccinated last year.

Governor? They’re private companies! They ought to have the power to decide for themselves. It’s usually the totalitarian left that won’t let people set their own rules.

Aside from that nastiness, Florida’s COVID-19 policies are among the most sensible.

Since lockdowns won’t stop the virus, we must learn to live with it. Most of us now have the ability to live with COVID-19 thanks to new vaccines and drugs.

“We don’t have to upend human life in our quest to eliminate COVID … which can’t happen anyway,” says economist Don Boudreaux.

Giving up these laws is not “admitting defeat” but “admitting reality. In the same manner that other pathogens are learned to accept COVID, we also learn how to deal with it. … One day, every one of us is going to be done in by something.”

That’s why I will vacation in Florida this week.

I’ll wear a mask if I’m in a crowd, but most of the time I won’t. It’s a joy to breathe freely.

Omicron might be a possibility. But since I’m vaccinated and fit, I probably won’t die. Maybe I’ll even be granted immunities that will protect me in the near future.

And anyway, “All of us will be done in by something.”

Ich choose to be free.

John Stossel is creator of Stossel TV and author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.”

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