CNN medical analyst Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Tuesday slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for prematurely declaring victory over the novel coronavirus weeks ago just before cases in his state started to surge.
During a panel discussion about COVID-19, Gupta outlined all the reasons why Florida is particularly vulnerable to the virus, and he expressed dismay that DeSantis still doesn't seem to be taking it seriously.
"So you know, I do remember Governor DeSantis not being too concerned about this virus early on, even sort of taking a victory lap at the White House with President Trump in the Oval Office," he said. "And the reality is that the virus hasn't changed. The virus is still out there. It's very contagious."
Florida for the last week has been recording record numbers of new COVID-19 cases, and the state has now blown past 100,000 confirmed infections.
Jeanne Marrazzo, the director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, chimed in to similarly warn about Florida's vulnerability to a COVID-19 spike.
"What people keep forgetting is that there are time lags between the peak numbers we're seeing reported and the consequences that get people into the ICU," she said. "So you're looking at this two-to-three-week period. so what makes me very concerned is that we are already seeing a spike in ICU admissions in a place like Florida, which, as Sanjay said, is relatively ready for a very scary outcome, especially with older people."
Watch the video below.
