Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis admitted that it took him longer to fully re-open the state of Florida than former President Donald Trump recommended during the COVID-19 pandemic, archive video from the Governor’s social media has revealed.
Last month, DeSantis attacked Trump’s record on COVID after the former President called the Governor of Florida’s pandemic response “average.” However, at the height of the pandemic in 2020, DeSantis accepted that he didn’t listen to the White House’s advice, keeping Florida closed for longer than was necessary.
“When we announced phase one, we followed the White House’s guidelines, but we didn’t even do everything they said we could do in Phase 1… so it was a limited Phase 1, it was a safe Phase 1, it was a smart step, but it was done step by step,” DeSantis argued.
Phase 1 meant that restaurants, barber shops, and retail stores, among others, could only open to 50 percent capacity.
Indeed, Florida was one of the later Republican states to lift lockdown restrictions. In fact, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alaska, Georgia, Oklahoma, Alabama, Indiana, Montana, South Carolina, and Texas all began opening up before DeSantis’s home state.
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