Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has maintained Florida will not go back into lockdown and will not implement mask mandates. However, Jacksonville doctor Dr. Sunil Joshi is calling on DeSantis to order Florida back into a state of emergency.

Joshi, an immunologist, said the rise in hospitalizations should be enough to force Florida back to consider how serious the virus still is.

“Is it time for the Governor to declare a state of emergency/public health emergency in Florida regarding COVID-19 hospitalizations with what we are seeing here? Yes,” said Joshi. “So we can get some federal help and maybe some extra staff to assist in the hospitals? Yes. This is serious folks.”

Some Florida hospitals are facing staffing shortages, which is leading to increased workloads for their healthcare workers.

“Staffing becomes a real issue for us,” said Chad Neilsen with UF Health Jacksonville. “We have people holding down in the emergency department because we either don’t have staffing in the beds upstairs for them or we don’t have room for them elsewhere.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported over 73,181 infections nationally over the past week and over 6,000 hospitalizations in Florida due to COVID.

But DeSantis said last week any new lockdown measures will not happen on his watch.

“If anyone is calling for lockdowns, you’re not getting that in Florida,” DeSantis said. “To have the government come in and lock anyone down or restrict anybody is totally unacceptable.”

DeSantis has continued to encourage Floridians to get vaccinated but has stopped short of calling the unvaccinated “part of the problem.”

“If you’re not vaccinated,” said West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R), “you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) echoed sentiments similar to Justice when asked about what it will take to get more people vaccinated.

“I don’t know — you tell me,” said Ivey. “Folks are supposed to have common sense. But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”

DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic has continued to push him to the head of the pack of potential 2024 GOP presidential candidates, rather than Ivey and Justice who have begun using language similar to Democrat officials who are making vaccines mandatory for public workers.

“I get a little bit frustrated when I see some of these jurisdictions saying, even if you’re healthy and vaccinated you must wear a mask because we’re seeing increased cases,” DeSantis said. “Understand what that message is sending to people who aren’t vaccinated. It’s telling them that the vaccines don’t work.”

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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Florida Senate Capitol” by Michael Rivera CC 3.0.