DeSantis: To Contemplate Further CCP Virus Lockdowns Is ‘Insane’

DeSantis: To Contemplate Further CCP Virus Lockdowns Is ‘Insane’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a COVID-19 and storm preparedness roundtable in Belleair, Fla., on July 31, 2020. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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On Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized President Joe Biden’s remarks about the possibility of reinstating COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States if people are not “vigilant.”

“To even contemplate doing any type of lockdown, honestly it’s insane,” said the Republican governor.

DeSantis vowed to protect his state from possible Washington mandates.

“That’s not gonna happen in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said,  referring to lockdowns. “We’re gonna continue doing what works, but under no circumstances would we entertain anything of the sort.”

Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather along Southern Blvd near Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 15, 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather along Southern Blvd near Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 15, 2021. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

“Even if we devote every resource we have, beating this virus and getting back to normal depends on national unity,” Biden said on Thursday, in his longest speech as president so far.

“And national unity isn’t just how politics and politicians vote in Washington, what the loudest voices say on cable or online. Unity is what we do as fellow Americans. Because if we don’t stay vigilant and the conditions change, then we may have to reinstate restrictions to get back on track. And, please, we don’t want to do that again,” he said.

Last month, DeSantis pushed back against a report about a potential CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus-related domestic travel restriction for Floridians, calling the idea “unconstitutional.”
President Joe Biden speaks about the CCP virus pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Jan. 26, 2021. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden speaks about the CCP virus pandemic in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Jan. 26, 2021. Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images
“And I think it’s an absurd report that they would be doing that. I think it would be unconstitutional, it would be unwise and it would be unjust,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Thursday.

Texas on Wednesday lifted its statewide mask mandate enacted in mid-2020 while also loosening several other restrictions on businesses meant to control the spread of the CCP virus.

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, announced last week in an executive order (pdf) the State of Texas is working toward removing restrictions on businesses and having them operate again at full capacity.

“We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent,” the governor said last week, while also warning Texans that “COVID-19 has not disappeared,” but the mandates implemented to control the pandemic “are no longer needed.”

Lorenz Duchamps contributed to this report.