GOP State Leaders Dismiss Health Experts Concerns as COVID-19 Cases Spike in Their State

Some Republican governors are sharing their thoughts regarding a spike in coronavirus cases in their state, seemingly not wanting to fully close up their states’ economies again.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is one of the governors who does not approve of sweepingly closing his state again amid the coronavirus pandemic. The state of Florida has seen an increase in coronavirus infections, causing the state to backtrack as it recently closed down bars.

Florida, Texas, and Arizona have become the latest U.S. epicenters of the virus with breaking record numbers of infection rates. There are 2,730,803 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., as of Wednesday morning, Florida has 152,434 known cases. Jumping within a week, Florida went from 2,926 news cases on June 22 to 9,585 new cases on June 27, and 5,266 new cases on June 29.

DeSantis, however, has put his foot down, saying on Tuesday, “We’re not going back, closing things.”

“I don’t think that that really is what’s driving it, people going to a business is not what’s driving it,” he continued. “I think when you see the younger folks, I think a lot of it is more just social interactions, so that’s natural. Obviously, you had a lot of different activities going on in different parts of the state. … So that’s just the reality.”