As Winter Approaches, COVID Cases Bottom Out In Florida, Surge To Peak Levels In The North

As much of the world, including America’s own president, trembles before a new strain of COVID-19 that, as of the moment, leaves its “victims” with more or less the equivalent of a bad head cold, Florida continues to bask in the light of the lowest rate of new infection of actual COVID.

According to The New York Times’ coronavirus tracker, Florida as of Monday was reporting just three cases per 100,000 people. That was down by half in just the last few days and is the lowest rate in the country, Breitbart News noted.

Meanwhile, Breitbart reported how the Sunshine State, led by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the left-wing media’s favorite elected punching bag, stacked up against several blue states, which, as the outlet pointed out, have been “lavished with praise by the left throughout the course of the pandemic.”

Michigan, under Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, reports the highest daily new-case infection rate at the moment, with 85 per 100,000. That’s up 59 percent over the past two weeks and 28 times the rate of Florida.

Pennsylvania, with Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf at the helm, now records 44 cases per 100,000, or 15 times what Florida is reporting. Illinois, under Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, clocks in with 37 per 100,000, or about 12 times what Florida is experiencing. And New York, under new Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who took over for the media’s former favorite state-level chief executive, Andrew Cuomo, has 30 per capita, a mere 10 times the rate in Florida.

Three months ago, DeSantis predicted that COVID was a seasonal illness – and was widely mocked for such an idea, which was based on the available scientific data at the time, as DeSantis’ staff pointed out.

He told reporters in mid-August that Florida was in its “COVID season.” As The Washington Post characterized it, “DeSantis has argued that the recent record-breaking rise in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations was unavoidable as temperatures rise and more people gather indoors, denying that easing restrictions and an uptick in tourism led to the surge.”

“But the claim,” the Post continued, “that the time of year has a greater impact on transmission than mitigation measures such as mask mandates and social distancing contradicts guidance from researchers and public health experts, who warn people should get vaccinated and take precautions amid the rampant spread of the delta variant in Florida.”

And then, just like that, the Post validated DeSantis without even correcting itself, or even acknowledging its past criticism.

In a Thanksgiving Day article that tried to explain why COVID, despite a massive amount of vaccines, was now rocketing to record levels in places like Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont and Massachusetts – can you spot the common denominator? – the Post said, “The surge can be attributed to several factors.”

One was an “already high” baseline at the end of the summer.

What was another? “Cold weather is driving more gatherings indoors,” the Post reported.

The paper quoted Amber D’Souza, professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, who noted, “We are absolutely heading into an additional wave this winter across the country that may hit at different times and it may be at different extents in different parts of the country.”

The Post then reported, “Earlier this month, the number of Covid-19 patients in parts of Colorado matched peaks from late last year at the same time previous southern state hot spots, like Florida and Texas, saw marked declines in cases.”

To explain this, the Post turned to D’Souza, who said, “Part of that is just how our behavior changes as things get colder and we are in more places inside and in close proximity to people where infection spreads.”

It’s almost as if she’s saying Democratic-run, blue states in the north now find themselves in “COVID season.”

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