Despite the massive gap in restrictions, California and Florida have experienced similar COVID results by Guy Benson

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Credit where it is due: that Associated press the story reveals a reality that severely undermines a narrative — embraced by many media outlets — that imposing more COVID restrictions equates to greater “security” and “following science.” A Biden administration health official was shocked by California’s disconnect against Florida on MSNBC recently, and here’s the AP that reveals the awkward truth:

Very different approaches. “Almost identical” COVID results. More details:

California and Florida both have a COVID-19 case rate of about 8,900 per 100,000 residents since the pandemic began, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And both are halfway between states for mortality rates for COVID-19 – Florida was 27th as of Friday; California was 28th. Connecticut and South Dakota are another example. Both are among the ten worst states in relation to COVID-19 mortality rates. Still, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, has imposed numerous statewide restrictions over the past year after a first increase in deaths, while South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem , a Republican, did not issue warrants, as virus deaths skyrocketed in the fall.

We already know that New York has been a disaster both at the level of COVID and economically. But exploring the comparison of California with Florida a little deeper, more facts emerge. California has a slightly better death rate and per capita cases, although both states are about half of the nationwide package with the old metric. Florida, of course, has an older population. Prior to the success of the pandemic, the unemployment rate in Florida was one point better than in California (3.3 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively). By the end of the year, California’s unemployment rate had risen to 9.3%, while Florida’s had only risen to 5.1%. By 2020, California lost 1.63 million jobs, compared to approximately 583,000 in Florida. The media has been obsessed with attacking Florida and its Republican governor, but the data tells a story that doesn’t fit his favorite story. Even pieces designed to criticize Ron DeSantis end up deviating into frustrating territory for those who have been married to the ‘DeathSantis’ stuff:

To some people, like this famous hacker left columnist of the Los Angeles Times it cannot process empirical truths that conflict with its partisan feelings, therefore resort to unfounded conspiracy theories:

This did not happen, and the lunatic to whom he refers has been exposed as a liar and accused of multiple crimes. But some media figures can’t let her go because it’s easier to cling to conspiracies than to deal with the understanding that her passionate partisan dogma might be wrong. Ever since we started this post with a conventional news organization that recognized truths that many of its tribe refuse to acknowledge, and another? Via ABC News, late last week:

Despite calls for national unity and bipartisanship, President Joe Biden and his top aides have refused to give credit to the Trump administration over the nation’s launch of COVID-19 vaccines, relying heavily on a system established by its predecessors.… Biden and his top aides have repeatedly accused the Trump administration of having “no plan” … Although Biden has bought additional supply of vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna were always expected to increase their supply all year round. Besides, Biden’s game book for vaccine distribution has been largely based on a system created by the Trump administration, including federal collaborations with state officials and agreements with local pharmacies. In fact, the federal pharmacy program created by Trump’s aides is what Biden trusted last week to expand teacher eligibility. And when Biden called for “100 million shots in 100 days,” at a rate of about 1 million shots a day, former health officials noted that the United States had already reached this pace the week of Biden’s inauguration in mid-January … With three vaccines now authorized by regulators, boosting supply is, in fact, a victory. But it is also something that Biden has celebrated as the only achievement of his administration without acknowledging that it was relying on Trump-era contracts to get it.

This cynical and predictable policy could be called as usual, but Biden made an explicit campaign to unify the country, heal factions, and reach the corridor. That’s not it.

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