Furious Florida doctors lash out at DeSantis over 'unbelievably frightening' surge of COVID-19 patients

According to a report from Vanity Fair's Bess Levin, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is facing withering criticism from doctors in his state for not taking the resurgence of COVID-19 seriously as the Delta variant overwhelms hospitals at a frightening pace.

As the report notes, Florida reported 10,389 new hospitalizations for COVID on Monday that comes on the heels of a staggering 21,000 new infections on Friday making Florida home to almost one in five cases nationally.

On Monday, CNN's John Avlon reported that Florida "has gotten nearly 25 times more people hospitalized for COVID than in all of Canada," and, according to The Independent, doctors in the Sunshine State are fed up with the Republican governor who recently started fundraising by selling items mocking getting vaccinated.

According to Vanity Fair's Levin, "Last month, DeSantis's reelection campaign introduced koozies and T-shirts bearing the phrase 'Don't Fauci My Florida' as his state began to see some of the highest hospitalizations, new infections, and deaths per capita in the country, claiming that Florida's economy would have been in the toilet if it had 'followed Fauci.' The items were listed along anti-mask merch printed with the DeSantis quote, 'How the hell am I going to be able to drink a beer with a mask on?' While the governor's office swears the state is in great shape, and that the recent spike is merely a 'seasonal' blip, the data seems to indicate otherwise."

Florida's doctors seem to concur.

In an interview, Bernard Ashby, a Miami cardiologist stated, "While hospitals in our state were filling up, DeSantis was shouting about 'Freedom over Faucism.'"

Ashby, who also heads up the state's Committee to Protect Health Care, added, "If DeSantis were as concerned about stopping COVID-19 spread as he was about coming up with these clever jabs about Dr. Fauci, we might not be in this position," reported the Independent which added that doctors in the state are both "furious and ashamed."

Dr. Aileen Marty, a Florida International University infectious disease expert also expressed dismay.

"There is no higher risk area in the United States than we're seeing here," she admitted before lamenting, "The numbers that we're seeing are unbelievable, just unbelievably frightening."