Nearly a year since COVID-19 first touched the United States, California and Florida – which responded to the pandemic in their own ways – are producing vastly different results.
Florida, which has been more open and less restricted than its West Coast counterpart, has registered just over 1.5 million cases. However, California, despite being among the strictest in the country when it comes to blocking COVID, has recorded almost double that number since the pandemic began.
ARCHIVE: A healthcare professional attends a COVID-19 patient at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center intensive care unit during the coronavirus pandemic in San Jose, California.
(AP)
Although Florida has a smaller population than California, both states have approximately the same number of cases per 100,000 residents.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has faced harsh criticism for his strict treatment with the coronavirus. Throughout 2020, he ordered the closure of bars, in-house restaurants and other businesses in counties that exceeded a certain COVID-19 case limit.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, however, took a different approach. Although he took similar steps for Newsom at the start of the pandemic, he did allow bars and restaurants to open in June. A few months later, he lifted more state restrictions on the economy and banned law enforcement from fining people who don’t wear masks.
In October, DeSantis said that closing schools across the state because of the coronavirus is not a viable option and “should be out of the question.”
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Meanwhile, most of California’s 6 million public school students have been learning remotely since the pandemic began in March. The Democratic governor announced late last month a $ 2 billion plan to pressure state schools to allow their youngest students to return to school in February.
However, deaths in Florida – 110 per 100,000 residents – exceeded those in California by 81 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The higher numbers, however, may reflect Florida’s older population.
However, CDC data indicates that California’s death rate is gaining ground in Florida, with average daily deaths of seven days at 1.4 per 100,000 residents, compared with 0.8 per 100,000 in Florida. And as of Saturday, positive tests in California were also higher, 105 new cases per 100,000, against 64 in Florida per 100,000.
California reached a dismal milestone this week, with nearly 3 million cases of coronavirus. The death of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County – the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States – affects about one person every six minutes.
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California’s hospitalization rates also exceeded Florida, by 56 per 100,000 residents, compared with Florida by about 36 per 100,000 residents.
Fox News contacted the Newsom team to comment on the drastic differences.