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Front Page » Opinion » Where does the governor find his ‘right’ to infect others?

Where does the governor find his ‘right’ to infect others?

Written by on October 19, 2021
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Where does the governor find his ‘right’ to infect others?

Dear Governor DeSantis:

It’s very hard to understand what you’re doing about Covid-19, but I think I now see why you abort so many measures to control its spread. Let me know if I’ve got it wrong, but how else can your actions make sense?

It’s not that you’re against public health and safety – at least, not when favoring public health is convenient for you. It would be cruel to accuse anyone of that.

No, it seems to me that you have decided that public health is only convenient when it doesn’t get in the way of your higher principles. And the one belief you seem to hold most dear is that everyone has a right to the personal freedom to do whatever he wants to do whenever he wants to do it.

You believe everyone has the right to infect others with Covid-19 or whatever else comes along, and that right trumps the right of the rest of us to strive to avoid being infected. That means the highest duty of the State of Florida is no longer to protect its citizens.

Do I have that correct, governor? Am I missing some nuance? Or is it all just misdirected politics?

Because how else could you explain your insistence that any parent has the right to decide to send to school a child who has been exposed to Covid-19 and can then infect all classmates and teachers and school personnel and send the disease home with them? Or the right to send children to school maskless to spread the disease? Don’t the rest have any rights to protect? 

Apparently not, because you won’t let school boards protect us – and your appointees are enforcing that with unprecedented fines.

Certainly you’re not heartless, because you want us all to be able to govern our own actions, which usually is admirable. But it’s not admirable when the personal decisions involve things like who else can get sick or die on your watch. Not that I’ve ever seen a so-called “freedom to infect” as part of the Constitution, but you may have spotted a right that nobody else knows about.

It seems you believe that anyone except the people who will actually be infected can decide about spreading covid to anyone else.

You won’t let employers decide that their workers must get a vaccine that will protect not only themselves but everyone else in a workplace, nor will you let businesses decide about requiring employees and customers to show proof of vaccination for admittance. 

It’s not that vaccines are now hard to get, because they aren’t. It’s not that their effectiveness is questionable, because it’s not. It’s not that you want the federal officials to certify the safety of the vaccines, because they already have. 

You just don’t want to require this protection for all because a few ill-informed persons don’t believe what the scientific community accepts as facts or just plain don’t care what their actions might do to others. Do those people also have the right to drive drunk or under the influence of drugs and kill someone if they so choose?

In fact, you and your so-called health department won’t even allow event presenters to require proof of vaccinations for admission. Such proof exists on federal vaccination cards. But requiring proof of vaccines runs counter to your belief in the absolute freedom to do whatever you want.

Do you also think we all have a right to shout “Fire!” in a crowded theater?

And do you think visitors from abroad, legal or illegal, have a perfect right not to show a passport to officials if they don’t want to?

By the way, if you’re so stuck on rights, what about the right of the public to see covid infection and hospitalization figures that the state put under wraps months ago and refuses to release? Perhaps the facts are hidden because you don’t want the public to see the numbers of people who sicken and die because others act on the so-called “right” you champion to infect your neighbor. 

Governor, you are smart and educated. But your covid let’s-get-sick-together policy is plain dumb. So, where in the Bill of Rights, or the Bible, or Boy Scout Handbook, do you find this so-called right of infection?

5 Responses to Where does the governor find his ‘right’ to infect others?

  1. Ricky Martin

    October 20, 2021 at 10:22 am

    Oh give me a break. The above are strawman arguments at best. The science behind masking, social distancing, and the vaccines for that matter, are dubious at best. Studies out of Israel, Sweden, Singapore, Japan, and India show that vaccination rates and other questionable measures make little difference in infection rates. And besides, if those concerned are vaccinated, why should they care about others’ status? And while we’re on the topic of science, why is there no conversation around natural immunity? It seems like the one playing politics is you, sir. The Bill of Rights, Bible, and Boy Scout Handbook have served Americans well thus far. But you wouldn’t understand that.

  2. Richard Rodríguez-Pérez

    October 20, 2021 at 11:31 am

    Very well-written, although I think you’re giving the governor a lot of credit when you describe him as “…smart and educated.” His actions during the pandemic have proven just the opposite. Maybe I’ll start disregarding school zone speed limits. After all, apparently we have the right to do whatever we damn well please, regardless of the consequences for others.

  3. Pascal

    October 20, 2021 at 6:47 pm

    Looking at official data compiled by The NY Times (of all sources), I am very confused by this opinion piece. If Governor DeSantis is doing such an awful job managing the Red Flu pandemic, how do you explain that our rate of infection is almost have of Nee York? 7 day average new cases is 2300 for Florida vs 4400 for New York.

    Why the lies ?

  4. Grady Muhammad

    October 22, 2021 at 10:22 am

    Our Governor is nuts. He’s on a power trip and is pandering to his base of voters. Seeking reelection and then run 4 president. He’s not stupid. He’s Arrogant though. Me and myself will not be getting a Vaccine shot, but we wear masks and practice social Distancing as well. It’s an individual choice but not to get anyone else sick or have loved ones die because of it.

  5. Troy Inch

    October 25, 2021 at 7:47 am

    I’ve noticed the most fearful are those who are already immunized and protected by masks. The maskless and without the shot seem as healthy. DeSantis has allowed adults to decide the risks “for themselves”- not the government caring “for you”. I support that freedom.

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