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In a stunning development, California’s coronavirus rate is double that of Florida.
Liberal politicians in California have implemented mask mandates and other strict recommendations in order to stop the spread of the virus.
Southern states such as Texas and Florida do not enforce face mask policies or support other strict mandates.
In these states, the coronavirus rate is lower.
This information is reflected in the CDC’s chart for transmission level.
In Florida and Texas, these states are listed as “orange” in the CDC’s explanation of transmission level while California is “red,” which indicates a high level of transmission.
Florida has hit multiple new benchmarks in combatting the virus.
The first hospital to treat a COVID patient last year announced it has no virus patients in its care. This is happening for the first time since the pandemic began.
Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, Christina Pushaw, said, “This is great news! For two weeks and counting, Florida has had the lowest rate of new COVID-19 cases in the entire country – with no mandates, vaccine passports, or lockdowns.”
“Overall, COVID hospitalizations have been declining for more than 70 days straight, and we’re at an all time low in terms of the number of COVID patients hospitalized statewide.”
More from Fox News:
California’s vaccination rate is higher than states such as Texas and Florida, but that still hasn’t stopped the outbreaks. Sixty-two percent of California’s total population is fully vaccinated, while Florida reports 60% and Texas 54%.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California leaders put some of the most strict coronavirus measures in place last year, which have continued into 2021.
In the Bay Area, health officials reimposed indoor face mask orders and won’t lift the measures until the area falls below the CDC’s orange “substantial” transmission level for three weeks or more. So far, most of the Bay Area counties still remain in the orange zone, besides San Francisco, which is in the yellow zone, the outlet reported.
California saw fewer cases of the delta variant over the summer with the state’s higher vaccination rate. Those who were not vaccinated and have recovered from the virus now also have immunity, the outlet reported, and the virus has a more difficult time spreading.
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“These regions are now being partly protected by high prior infection rates,” said Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of the medical department at the University of California-San Francisco. “But these people whose immunity comes from COVID-19 are not very well protected, and their immunity will wane with time.”
Wachter added that with low booster shot rates and waning immunity, “the end result is that we’ve plateaued in our improvements, both nationally and in California, and it’s likely we’ll soon see some significant upticks.”
