A Miami Herald journalist has put the blame for the omicron COVID-19 strain emergence in Florida on Governor Ron DeSantis, claiming the outbreak was caused by his own selfish acts in a recent op-ed.
In a story titled "Last lesson of 2021, Florida: Omicron happens when we act selfishly, like Gov. DeSantis" and published earlier in the week, columnist Fabiola Santiago suggested that surging infection rates are all due to Floridians "giddily taking risks."
Currently, the state is seeing a resurgence of hours-long COVID-19 testing lines and an increase in deaths, according to the report.
"Omicron is what happens when we act selfishly and reject that we’re interconnected with the rest of the world in our common humanity," Santiago wrote about those who practice "freedom of choice" in regard to vaccinations. "The me, me, me attitude only heightens our vulnerability to disease."
Social media users did not appear to side with the columnist, with many joking about how DeSantis has also intentionally “spread” Omicron in other US states, and that the reasoning behind her suggestion was obviously flawed.
According to independent analyses done by the New York Times and Florida authorities, while the state is indeed seeing a sharp spike in new cases of COVID-19, the death rate has declined 52% on average over the past two weeks, according to NYT.
Santiago claimed that DeSantis "is still busy peddling treatment instead of prevention" and "calls giving a damn about the science of contamination 'Faucism, adding that the governor's dispute with top US epidemiologist Dr. Fauci is merely a diversion from his own political aspirations.
"The governor [is]… governing with such authoritarianism that he comes perilously close to Fascism with every move," she wrote. "So many of us wish he would put politics aside, at least for the coronavirus."
According to the journalist, even extremely transmissible omicron has not changed how "vaccine-stagnant, mask-rejecting" Floridians have dealt with the pandemic, as Santiago called this attitude as "contagious as the virus."
Santiago concluded by naming the omicron strain "the last lesson of 2021," urging Americans to "heed it, and wear the holiday smile behind the mask."
Last week, DeSantis told Fox News that his fellow Floridians "know we will not let anybody lock them down," or "let anyone take their jobs."
"We will not let anyone ruin their businesses, and we will not let anyone close their schools, so people are going to be able to live life," DeSantis said. "They're going to be able to make their own decisions."