In Jacksonville, Ron DeSantis presents monoclonal antibody good news

DeSantis Jax monoclonal
The Governor appeared with a COVID-19 survivor.

Standing aside the Jacksonville Mayor and GOP legislators, Gov. Ron DeSantis touted positive metrics and progress in Jacksonville’s bout with the latest wave of COVID-19, and presented a story of recovery that would not have happened without state intervention.

Hospitals have been crushed for weeks, with emergency rooms and ICUs pushed beyond capacity.

But on Monday, DeSantis, freshly returned from a fundraising trip to New Jersey, shared the good news at the Florida Department of Health by introducing a Jacksonville resident, Toma Dean, who says her life was saved by timely monoclonal therapy.

DeSantis noted that 30,000 treatments had been administered statewide so far, and Jacksonville thus far has seen the most. Those numbers aren’t surprising; Jacksonville was the first site in the state to have access to this therapy.

Yet Dean was a special case.

A photograph of her lying face down on the floor of the Jacksonville Public Library, repurposed for monoclonal treatment, went viral.

The DeSantis administration pushed back as recently as last week against the optics of the picture, noting Dean’s recovery.

On Monday, she was presented as living proof, and though she was not fully recovered, she was well on her way, she said.

Dean noted she was on “day nine” of her fight with COVID-19 and had endured multiple trips to the ER for hydration.

“I was headed for the ICU, headed for high-flow oxygen,” she said, “One or the other.”

Convinced to take the monoclonal therapy, Dean said the turnaround was quick.

“Within 24 to 36 hours, I knew I was going to make it,” Dean said.

Recovery continues, she said, but she credits monoclonal therapy with making a difference.

In recent weeks, Duval County has seen declines in case count (less than 5,000 in the last week), rates of positive testing, hospital beds used for COVID-19 patients, and ICU berths, according to records with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DeSantis was accompanied by Reps. Cord ByrdWyman DugganJason Fischer, and Clay Yarborough, as well as Jacksonville Republican Mayor Lenny Curry.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


4 comments

  • Tom

    August 30, 2021 at 12:13 pm

    Good job Gov Ron.
    Way to save and help people everyday.
    You are fit best!

  • Alex

    August 30, 2021 at 12:23 pm

    Deaths per 100, 000 residents because of covid in Florida are now almost 24% higher than California.

    Looks like not locking down was a mistake.

  • Tom

    August 30, 2021 at 12:46 pm

    Great effort Gov to get this out, up and running.
    Leadership! Talk is cheap like from Alex, cheap shot artist.

    Hawaii has been Locked down with masks.
    You lock downers are never satisfied.
    Why don’t you move Australia.

  • Sonja Fitch

    August 30, 2021 at 1:12 pm

    Prevention! Stupid! Prevention! Duffus Desantis is willingly slaughtering Floridians and our children! Duffus Desantis ain’t notin but a damn drug dealer! Prevention! Lock up Duffus Desantis for killing and harming our children!

Comments are closed.


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