Alert to Governor Ron DeSantis: Do you know that Florida people are dying of COVID?

Florida's Governor DeSantis needs some French lessons on handling the unvaccinated published in the Sarasota Herald- Tribune written by Roger Brown.

Governor Ron DeSantis is supposed to be "pro-life". Truth be told, he is obviously a hypocrite!

DATELINE FLORIDA - "The notoriety of being the state viewed as the "epicenter" of America’s growing surge of highly infectious COVID cases."

So, obviously, DeSantis has not been home in Florida very much. Instead, he has been traveling around a lot lately, including a trek to our border with Mexico for the purpose of . . . well , who really knows the purpose of that trip?

But for God’s sake wouldn’t we all be better off if DeSantis would travel instead to France to get some lessons in leadership from someone bold enough to make the necessary boss moves to keep his country from becoming as COVID-riddled as Florida?

Someone brave enough to tell those who remain unvaccinated – and won't get COVID vaccine shots – that the days of indulging their stubbornness and ignorance are over? Done?

In short, wouldn’t we be better off if we had French President Emmanuel Macron in Florida right now? 

Florida sees spike in reported coronavirus

Although that's pretty dramatic, we need to examine DeSantis' misguided motivation. He doesn't appear to care about saving the lives of Floridians.

Here what we’ve gotten from DeSantis’ worshipful enabling of Florida's unvaccinated hordes:

• The notoriety of being the state viewed as the "epicenter" of America’s growing surge of highly infectious COVID cases.

• Rising hospitalization rates in Florida medical centers like Sarasota Memorial Hospital, which is now limiting visitors to its facility – in other words, doing exactly what it was doing last year when there were no vaccines and the pandemic was at its height of infections and deaths.

Compare that to France and what’s happened there in the short time since Macron warned all French citizens that if they didn’t become vaccinated – and soon – they wouldn’t be allowed entry inside most public facilities:

• In a one-week period nearly 4 million people made appointments to get COVID vaccine shots.

• The number of daily confirmed COVID cases in France, according to World Health Organization stats, has been gradually dropping over the past several days.

That’s a pretty yawning leadership gap between someone in Florida who’s been sitting on his hands regarding COVID and someone in France who's been forcing the hands of the irresponsible people who won't take COVID seriously.

And it’s a really alarming one when you consider that if DeSantis has his way, he could be one of Macron’s peers as a world leader in, say, four years.

In fact, it’s so alarming that I reached out to Boston University professor Vivien A. Schmidt – an expert in European politics and renowned for her knowledge of French public policy – to get her perspective on why Macron is showing such bravery in facing down the unvaccinated.

In an email from Italy, Schmidt wrote that while the French “tend to be generally more critical of their governments than most . . . my sense is that public opinion sides with Macron (on his approach). His discourse has been: 'If you want to enjoy the fruits of a free society, then you have to do as much as everyone else to ensure that it is safe for everyone.'”

And getting vaccinated, Schmidt wrote, is part of that shared sense of responsibility that Macron is demanding – demanding! – that French citizens embrace. “(Macron) stands a good chance of getting re-elected,” Schmidt added. “And this may be just the ticket.”

So, yes, it is possible to tell the “I ain’t getting no (expletive) vaccine shot” crowd to “get one – or else.”

And, yes, it is possible to get away with doing it, too.

It really just boils down to this: getting up enough courage to do it.

By my calculations, the quickest it would take DeSantis to fly from Tallahassee to Paris is 11 hours and 25 minutes. That’s no small deal. But if it could lead to DeSantis finally traveling the path of enlightenment on getting unvaccinated people in Florida to do what’s right, there should only be three words left to say:

Bon voyage, governor.
Opinions Editor Roger Brown

P.S. Maine Writer- En francais #lesvaccinsfonctionnent

It's impossible to understand how Governor DeSantis can ignore the well being of Floridians when vaccines are proven to prevent the spread of the COVID pandemic.