Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has emerged as one of the most popular figures among the Republican Party faithful, who see him as a leading candidate for president in 2024 if you know who from Mar-a-Lago declines to run. The conservative commentariat favorably contrasts DeSantis’s management of the coronavirus pandemic with the performance of other governors, both Democratic and Republican. Unlike many other states, Florida kept schools open for in-person instruction, and the Sunshine State seems to have achieved similar Covid outcomes as places that adopted more stringent regulations. In the post-vaccine period, DeSantis signed a bill into law that forbade all public and private organizations from denying service based on vaccination status. Each violation of this rule would result in a $5,000 fine.
This policy, in keeping with DeSantis’s less aggressive Covid posture when compared to other governors, has recently led to a showdown with Florida’s lucrative cruise industry. The CDC released a policy allowing cruises to resume, provided that 98 percent of crewmembers and 95 percent of passengers were vaccinated. Cruise lines prepared to restart operations under these guidelines, but the DeSantis administration warned them that requiring vaccination for passengers would violate Florida’s prohibition on “vaccination passports.”
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