(CNN) -- For the past year or so, Ron DeSantis has been on a roll.
The Florida Republican governor's laissez-faire approach to Covid-19 -- and the relatively low number of cases and deaths in such a large and elderly state -- turned him into a celebrity in the same circles where Donald Trump is a secular saint.
Except that, suddenly, Florida's numbers don't look so good with the Delta variant of the coronavirus punishing the state.
As the Wall Street Journal wrote over the weekend:
"The state accounts for one in five new infections in the U.S. and logged 73,181 cases over the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Florida had 341 cases per 100,000 people over the past week, second only to Louisiana. The weekly total of new cases reported by Florida jumped more than fourfold between July 1 and July 22, reaching its highest point since mid-January."
That surge has put pressure on DeSantis to take formal steps to limit the spread. He has, to date, resisted those efforts -- including any reconsideration of his order that kids returning to school in the state don't need to wear masks.
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https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/26/politics/desantis-florida-vaccines-covid-2024/index.html
