The extreme initiatives of California Governor Gavin Newsom compared to that of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to curtail coronavirus cases reportedly didn't work based on data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to FaithWire, a report from CBS News based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showed that California's extreme lockdowns during the pandemic did not help curtail COVID cases nor prosper businesses, as well as, safeguard American freedoms. FaithWire presented the CBS News report that compared California's initiatives to that of Florida's and said that the opposite approaches nevertheless have similar outcomes in terms of COVID-19 case rates.
FaithWire highlighted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that showed Florida never opted for a lockdown unlike California did and yet have almost identical 8,900 cases per 100,000 people. The two states' death rates due to the coronavirus were also similar such that Florida ranked 27th followed by California at 28th among U.S. states. Unemployment rates were recorded at 5.1% for Florida and 9.3% for California.
In addition, DeSantis proudly reported in his recent State of the State address that Florida's schools, businesses, and communities remained open. There were no restrictions in the state, not even to penalties for those not wearing a mask.
"Florida schools are open and we are one of only a handful of states in which every parent has the right to send their child to school in person," he said.
"Every business in Florida has the right to operate. Over these many months we've stood up for small family owned businesses and saved thousands of them from ruin," DeSantis stressed.
While Newsom, as per FaithWire, was the first to order a statewide shutdown that saw strict limitations imposed on indoor dining, schools, among others; due to the pandemic alongside the implementation of a mask mandate.
"Working together with parents and teachers and school leaders, we've turned the conversation to whether to reopen to when," Newsom revealed.
FaithWire said California is scheduled to reopen come April citing the Republican governor in saying that "we're not going to come crawling back" but instead will "roar back" in his State of the State address.
A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last August 2020 revealed that social distancing can reduce hospitalization and deaths due to COVID-19 by 90% "if all groups (those less than 60 years of age) reduce their contacts with others." While a recent study released on Monday by the said center showed that mask mandates and reducing on-premises restaurant dining do decrease COVID-19 case and growth rates.
"Mask mandates and restricting any on-premises dining at restaurants can help limit community transmission of COVID-19 and reduce case and death growth rates. These findings can inform public policies to reduce community spread of COVID-19," the report said.
Aligned with these studies' results, CBS San Francisco Bay Area reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that fully vaccinated people can forego wearing masks when gathering with others.
"We know that people want to get vaccinated so they can get back to doing the things they enjoy with the people they love," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.
These studies were actually the basis government officials created their COVID-19 initiatives such as President Joe Biden's Adminstration who is reported by Health Day as weighing options to put a national face mask standard for the workplace in the face of 38.3 million Americans fully vaccinated and over 109 million waiting for their dose to be completed.