Ron DeSantis’ office urges Biden to drop ‘useless’ COVID mandates if there’s no ‘federal solution’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants President Joe Biden to scrap his ‘useless’ vaccine mandates after he told the leaders of 25 states that there is ‘no federal solution’ to the COVID-19 pandemic, his office said on Tuesday.

The Republican governors of Florida, South Dakota, Arizona and Texas plus a host of other GOP figures are calling on Biden to drop his sweeping vaccine order affecting a third of the American workforce, as well as his other nationwide COVID rules, following his comment.

Out of the four just Arizona Governor Doug Ducey participated in the call. 

DeSantis’ spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the president is ‘abdicating responsibility and shifting blame’ to the states.

‘More Americans have died of COVID-19 under Biden than under Trump. Now that Biden has admitted to the nation that he has no plan to “shut down the virus,” and that there is “no federal solution,” we expect him to withdraw the unconstitutional and useless federal vaccine mandates,’ DeSantis’ office said. 

Biden notably promised to ‘shut down the virus’ on the 2020 presidential campaign trail. Now just over a year later, the new Omicron variant is fueling another wave of new infections, Biden’s vaccine order is facing legal roadblocks, and his administration’s delayed response in rolling out COVID-19 tests is under fire.

DeSantis’ office also recalled Biden’s message to Republican governors in August who were blocking mask and vaccine mandates: ‘Please help. But if you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way.’

‘Governor DeSantis defied this petty tyranny and continued to “stand in the way” of unconstitutional federal overreach. The governor stands for parental rights, individual liberties, and medical freedom, including the freedom to access treatments for COVID-19 that are proven effective,’ the governor’s spokesperson told DailyMail.com.

The governor accused the Biden administration of restricting Florida’s supply of monoclonal antibodies as a form of COVID-19 treatment, claiming it ‘had months to prepare for the predictable winter surge and neglected to do so.’ 

‘Now, Biden admits “there’s no federal solution” because he is abdicating responsibility and shifting blame — politics as usual,’ DeSantis’ office said.   

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem also joined DeSantis in demanding Biden roll back his vaccine mandates on Tuesday morning. 

‘After a year, we finally agree [Biden]. The federal government isn’t the solution,’ Noem wrote on Twitter.

‘That’s why from the start, SD took a different approach by trusting our citizens to be responsible and make the right decisions for themselves & their families. Now rescind all the federal mandates.’ 

Ducey accused the president of wanting it ‘both ways.’

‘President Biden said today “there is no federal solution” to resolve the pandemic. So why is he trying to force vaccine mandates in all 50 states?’ Ducey wrote on Twitter Monday.

‘The president wants it both ways. He’s demanding governors resolve the pandemic because his administration can’t, yet he continues to push vaccine mandates on businesses with no thought to the consequences.’ 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for Biden to ‘immediately end’ his vaccine rules on Monday.

‘Biden says there’s no federal solution to COVID and that this gets solved at a state level. He should immediately end his unconstitutional federal mandates,’ Abbott argued. ‘The Texas solution is no mandates and personal responsibility.’ 

Other Republicans wasted no time slamming Biden after the flip-flopping president said ‘there is no federal solution’ to combatting COVID-19 on Monday despite draconian measures that have included federal mask and vaccine mandates.  

Republican Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas told DailyMail.com that Biden’s comments on Monday are tantamount to ‘acknowledging’ his vaccine rules are ‘illegal.’

‘Biden’s vaccine mandates are illegal and I’m glad he’s finally acknowledging that. Now it’s time for the president to admit he failed to shut down the virus and focus on problems the federal government can solve like securing our border and going after China for creating this virus in the first place,’ Gooden said. 

Many Americans spent the holiday weekend waiting in long lines for PCR tests or scouring store shelves in vain for rapid at-home test kits, as the national shortage potentially fueled further transmission. 

On Monday, Biden acknowledged the chaotic scenes as Americans desperately sought out testing amid the case surge and as they looked to safely gather over the holiday.

‘Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do,’ said Biden as he spoke to the nation’s governors in a virtual meeting.

‘It’s not enough. It’s clearly not enough. If we’d have known, we’d have gone harder, quicker if we could have,’ the president added. 

The US testing crisis stands in stark contrast to the UK, where rapid test kits have been provided free to the public since August, and can be picked up in packs of five from any pharmacy. Anybody can walk in and request them, and can return to get as many as they need.

As a result, the UK is performing 22.3 COVID tests per 1,000 people every day, five times more than the US rate of 4.5, and the testing supply in Britain remains fairly robust despite the surge in demand from Omicron.

Shockingly, the Biden administration rejected a proposal in October to follow in the UK’s footsteps by providing 732 million tests to average Americans every month, according to Vanity Fair. 

The GOP, citing a comment Biden made in October 2020, released a tweet implying the president did an about-face on his commitment to battling the pandemic, which has come back with a vengeance with the highest amount of cases in a day since January –  before vaccines were created. 

‘BIDEN, TODAY: “There is no federal solution’ to COVID,”‘ the Republican National Committee tweeted, and included footage of the president from Monday’s meeting with 25 governors. 

‘BIDEN, 2020: “I’m going to shut down the virus.”‘ 

Biden was meeting Monday with 25 of the nation’s governors – a mix of Republicans and Democrats – where he addressed the ongoing pandemic. 

After his speech, Biden asked White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients to open to the floor to questions from the governors.

However, before taking any questions, Zients quickly booted the press from the room, saying: ‘I think we’re going to clear the press first.’ 

It’s the latest instance of White House staffers appearing to shield the gaffe-prone president from the press. Last week, Biden cut short questions after a speech, saying: ‘I’m not supposed to be having this press conference.’ 

During the speech, he told the governors that there was ‘no federal solution’ to the Omicron variant causing cases to spike around the country, saying the solution was solidly on the ‘state level.’ 

His message to governors was: ‘If you need something, say something. We are going to have your back.’  

The president’s comments came as the CDC cut in half isolation restrictions for Americans who catch COVID from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. 

The restrictions come as several industries face staff shortages caused by the federal mandates and the administration’s failure to provide adequate testing.

Biden’s supporters quickly rushed to his defense, alleging Republicans took his remarks out of context.

‘This deceptively-edited clip put out by the RNC and several GOP Members of Congress of Biden [sic] today creates the false impression that Biden is giving up on battling COVID,’ defense attorney Ron Filipkowski said. ‘This is a total lie’.

Filipkowski claimed the now-viral clip of Biden was ‘a total lie’ and edited to suggest he is ‘quitting on dealing with COVID and just throwing it to the states.’   

Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, also accused the president of implementing illegal mandates and blamed his ‘incompetence’ for the surging virus.

‘When Joe Biden says “there is no federal solution,” he’s trying to avoid blame for his incompetence,’ Cotton tweeted.

‘If he really believes this, he should rescind his unconstitutional federal mandates.’

Cotton then argued that although there is ‘no federal solution,’ there are steps the president could take to combat COVID. 

‘Biden opened the border, botched testing, and outsourced CDC’s guidance to the teachers’ unions,’ he stated. 

‘There’s no federal solution, but the fed government can help by securing the border, approving safe treatments & tests, and appointing competent leaders at the FDA & CDC.’ 

North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn – the youngest member of Congress – also chimed in on Biden’s handling of the virus.

‘Joe Biden blames the unvaccinated for COVID more than he blames China,’ said Cawthorn, a Republican from North Carolina.

Congressional candidate Buzz Patterson, also from North Carolina, offered his two sense on the situation: ‘Biden surrendered on the border, surrendered to the Squad, surrendered to the Taliban, and just surrendered to COVID.’

‘Don’t worry, he’s safely ensconced in his beach home. Sleep well.’ 

Despite the GOP’s efforts, Biden’s supporters poked holes in the video and rushed to his defense.

‘Driving home the undeniable truth that conservatives will cry no matter what,’ tweeted Marty Shannon. 

‘So certain states fight, tooth and nail any mitigation measures by the feds, then complain Biden won’t help then,’ argued @realFireblazes. 

Other Twitter users reiterated the importance of following the science, such as masking, social distancing and getting vaccinated.

One user, an apparent doctor, pushed for vaccinations by citing mortality rates.

‘COVID-19 mortality rates are 2-6 times higher in states that voted for Trump,’ Hugh G. Merriman, MD wrote. 

During Monday’s meeting, Biden admitted that his administration has not done enough to ease the COVID testing demand, vowing to do better. 

He acknowledged the long lines around the country as people sought to get a COVID test ahead of the holidays, saying ‘clearly’ his administration has more work to do.

‘That’s not enough. Clearly not enough,’ Biden said, adding: ‘We have to do more. We have to do better. And we will.’ 

The president joined his COVID-19 Response Team’s meeting with the governors for the first time Monday. After the meeting, Biden told reporters the governors had thanked him for his work.

‘They didn’t tell me they’re worried but they thanked me for the cooperation they’re getting. They said they’ve gotten all that they need. They just want to know what we think is gonna happen from here,’ he said, adding ‘there were no complaints, a lot of cooperation.’

He spoke with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House as he and Jill Biden  departed for Rehoboth Beach, where the first couple will spend a few days at his family home in Delaware for New Year’s.  

The president also denied a report in Vanity Fair that his administration, back in October, rejected a plan for more at-home COVID tests that called for an estimated 732 million tests per month. The plan also recommended a nationwide ‘Testing Surge to Prevent Holiday COVID Surge.’ 

‘We didn’t reject it,’ Biden said.

Biden joined the virtual meeting with the governors to discuss their needs to combat the Omicron variant as cases continue to rise and testing kits remain in demand. He acknowledged the testing shortage around the country in his opening remarks. 

‘Seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do,’ he said.

Biden argued, when he took office in January ‘we had no – zero – over-the-counter home test in the United States. None.’

‘Now there are more than 20,000 places to get tested for free,’ he said.

He said more testing sites were coming. 

‘I know the lines have gotten very long in some states. That’s why I ordered FEMA to set up pop up sites in places with high demand to shorten the wait. We stood up 60 of sites in New York City in five days and there are more coming,’ he told the governors.

He also said his administration worked with Google ‘so you can now search COVID test near me on google to find a location.’

Biden’s meeting comes as his administration faces criticism for a shortage of COVID tests as Americans rushed to get tested ahead of the holiday season. 

With demand high and shelves emptying out of stock, some retailers have placed limits on how many at-home testing kits can be purchased at a time.  CVS has a limit of six test kits per purchase both in stores and online while Walgreens limits it to four kits. 

‘You know, testing has always been an issue … that has been problematic. It has been compounded by the situation of the high demands,’ Biden’s COVID tsar, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN.

‘We had a conflation of high demands — high demands because of the concern about Omicron which is a justifiable concern, but the high demand that was triggered by the holiday season, people getting ready to travel getting ready to go and mix with family members and friends. It’s been a very, very strong run on testing.’

The Biden administration has announced plans to help quell this demand, distributing 500,000 at-home COVID tests to Americans in January.

Fauci also stated he expects more tests to be available next month. 

‘We’ve obviously got to do better,’ Fauci said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. ‘I think things will improve greatly as we get into January, but that doesn’t help us today and tomorrow.’ 

COVID cases in the US have exploded over the past two weeks, as the newly discovered Omicron strain begins to take hold in the country. 

America is currently averaging 198,326 cases every day, a 68 percent increase over the past two weeks. Deaths and hospitalizations have not followed, though. 

The US has not recorded a higher seven-day case average since January 19, the backside of the nation’s most devastating COVID surge to date. 

The country is averaging 71,302 hospitalizations every day, only an eight percent increase over two weeks. Deaths are up three percent during that time span to 1,328 per day. 

This could be a signal of the Omicron variant – which accounts for 73 percent of cases in the US, according to most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – being more mild than other strains. 

Deaths and hospitalizations do lag behind cases, though, and a similar spike could be seen in those metrics soon as well, though. 

Despite the surge, US health officials on Monday cut isolation restrictions for Americans who catch the coronavirus from 10 to five days, and similarly shortened the time that close contacts need to quarantine. 

CDC officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence that people with the coronavirus are most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptoms develop. 

The quarantine guidance is not a mandate; it’s a recommendation to employers and state and local officials. 

Last week, New York state said it would expand on the CDC’s guidance for health-care workers to include employees who have other critical jobs that are facing a severe staffing shortage.

The new recommendations said workers could go back to work after seven days if they test negative and don’t have symptoms. The agency said isolation time could be cut to five days, or even fewer, if there are severe staffing shortages. 

Meanwhile, Americans have been told by Fauci to cancel big parties as the Omicron variant tears across the nation. 

Daily cases have spiked in recent weeks, up 68 percent over the past two weeks, and America’s top infectious disease expert warns that things will only worsen in the near future. 

Fauci told ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) that the surge may only be beginning, and that Americans should expect the situation to exacerbate over the coming weeks.

‘It’s going to get worse before it gets better. That’s for sure,’ he said. 

‘We don’t expect things are going to turn around in a few days to a week. It likely will take much longer than that. But that’s unpredictable.’

Fauci says it’s not possible to predict when the Omicron variant surge will come to an end because different countries have seen varied patterns.  

‘Each demography of a country is different,’ he said.  

The Omicron variant, which was first discovered by South African health officials in late November, is the most mutated COVID strain yet. 

It has more than 50 mutations, including 37 on the spike protein targeted by the COVID vaccines.

The US has confirmed 8,333 cases of the variant as of Monday morning, though the real case figure is much higher. Only two other countries have confirmed more cases. 

Research performed by vaccine manufacturers and independent health experts have repeatedly found that the initial vaccine regimens – two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – are not effective at preventing infection from the variant.

Additional booster doses of the Pfizer and Moderna jabs can re-establish protection, though. According to CDC data, 72 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID, and 64.5 million people have received their booster shot.   

Source: dailymail