By The FirstA new study published by Fox News Monday showed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his administration handled the COVID-19 pandemic better than his counterparts in blue states, including California, Illinois, and New York.
“Shutting down their economies and schools was by far the biggest mistake governors and state officials made during COVID, particularly in blue states,” Steve Moore, co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, told Fox News Digital. “We hope the results of this study will persuade governors not to close schools and businesses the next time we have a new virus variant.”
From Fox News:
States like Utah, Nebraska, Vermont, Montana, South Dakota and Florida — all governed by Republicans — received the highest scores in the study, first through sixth, respectively. In fact, 13 of the top 15 states in the study are governed by Republicans. (Montana had a Democratic governor until the 2020 election.)
The study also found no correlation in those states that enacted stringent travel, vocation and dining restrictions with lower death totals.
“The study verifies other studies which have found that locking down businesses, stores, churches, schools, and restaurants had almost no impact on health outcomes across states,” the report determined. “States with strict lockdowns had virtually no better performance in COVID death rates than states that remained mostly open for business.”
