A.G. Gancarski
A day after Florida crossed 20,000 documented deaths from COVID-19, elected officials and doctors reiterated thus far unheard pleas to Gov. Ron DeSantis for a statewide mask mandate.
For one Northeast Florida Mayor, the case was especially personal.
Mayor Elaine Brown of Neptune Beach described her own experience with the virus, one that went from remote to the homestead with swift severity.
“I didn’t know people who had caught it. Now I have a son fighting for his life,” Brown said.
“We don’t know how he contracted it in the hospital. He went in with heart failure and received fabulous care. He’s been in there 26 days now, but during that time he now has contracted COVID,” Brown said.
“It’s frightening. It’s hard,” Brown said, emotions taking hold of her in what was a Zoom call full of grim pleas to mask up and save lives.
Brown, for her part, was not confident that DeSantis would hear mayors, saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”
Dr. Mohammed Reza, a Jacksonville infectious disease specialist, described the loss he had seen since March, a tapestry of broken families and dreams obliterated by the dreaded virus. Some died; others lived, but with conditions that will compromise their lives in ways they never anticipated.
“This virus is real. It’s killing us in Florida and across this country,” Reza urged.
The Governor, who has routinely dispensed with masks at events ranging from political rallies to press conferences to football games, is unlikely to move in this direction, especially given his disregard for guidance from the White House Coronavirus Task Force to take stronger measures.
Despite that, mayors and medical professionals urged Floridians to take the virus seriously and mask up.
Atlantic Beach Mayor Ellen Glasser described a 12-year-old girl in her community who died from the virus, exposed likely by a parent who was an essential worker.
“We must stay focused,” Glasser said. “We must do the right thing for the next few months and even beyond … the doctors can’t all be wrong.”
Dr. Nancy Staats, the founder of Doctors Fighting COVID, urged support from local leaders who have issued mask directives, stressing that the vaccine does not mean it’s over.
“It’s almost over,” Staats said, urging avoidance of “prolonged indoor maskless events.”
Staats noted that 1,200 doctors signed a letter to DeSantis in July urging masking, but the Governor has yet to respond.
Dr. Frederick Southwick urged “mandates with teeth,” with enforcement to ensure that people more universally wear masks.
“I would encourage the government to get on the same page as 1,200 physicians in the state,” Southwick, an infectious disease specialist from Gainesville, said.
5 comments
Ray Blacklidge
December 15, 2020 at 1:41 pm
I am sorry, and I don’t wish to seem cruel but let me see if I am residing this article correctly.
The title of the article begins “My son is fighting for his life” and implies Governor DeSantis needs to make masks mandatory to save him when the truth is sadly the Mayor’s son went into the hospital with heart failure, one would think that would cause her son to fight for his life, but no, the Governor needs to mandate masks because the Mayor’s son caught Covid-19 while being in a hospital, with mandated masks, so why would she think mandating masks would have helped him? The media plays along with the ruse. Listen everyday in America a tapestry of broken families and dreams obliterated by something or another. This article is full of BS and most people who take the time to read past the headline are left scratching their heads on why this was written at all. Oh yes, to mandate masks. Now thats BS
Sonja Fitch
December 15, 2020 at 1:46 pm
Is Duffus Desantis in a hate and kill match with Nazi Rick? Both are willingly slaughtering Floridians! Duffus Desantis has even ignored the goptrump death cult White House recommendations! What is the Duffus Desantis game? Duffus Desantis , you are a loser! Get out!
martin
December 16, 2020 at 6:28 am
I agree with Ray. This is worthless garbage article. The author should be ashamed of himself, and go back to journalism school.
Conservative always
December 16, 2020 at 11:27 am
Virginia’s Democrat governor, however, is not in the national media’s cross-hairs for this local break with New York’s COVID culture. Nor is Maryland’s anti-Trump Republican governor. Nor was New Orleans’s mayor, whose French Quarter raged until dawn the October Friday she surprised bar owners with a sudden end to the lockdown.
Why? Because as with global warming science, COVID science has become a political weapon for the left. While their allies escape judgment no matter their sins, political opponents from President Donald Trump to Dr. Scott Atlas, and governors from Florida’s Ron DeSantis to Texas’s Gov. Greg Abbott to South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, are the targets of vicious media attacks on themselves, their states, and their families. Just Friday, a New York Times psychiatrist demanded that doctors who question masks efficacy lose their licenses.
In America today, left-wing politicians obsessed with control are crushing the lives and dreams of their citizens while in the same country just across state lines, young and old celebrate Christmas like we used to without any notable difference in risk and impact. How long can this continue before we all figure it out?
Early in the pandemic, some reports indicated that COVID-19 might have been an intentional weapon against us. Since then, we’ve learned this is very unlikely, although this hasn’t stopped it from being used as a weapon against us: Not by the Chinese, but by our own elites. via The Federalist
Richard Tomanio
December 28, 2020 at 5:53 pm
This is a virus mask is not going make it go away. Support your immune system with selenium, zinc, or vitamin C. If your diabetic over weight or have respiratory problems stay in and wash your hands.
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