Ah, Florida. The Sunshine State. I don’t really know why it’s called by that name since it is rainy as often as it is sunny.

Anyway, Florida is a very special state and the people in it pretty much do as they wish with the help of our glorious Governor, Ron DeSantis who seems to be doing whatever he wants.

DeSantis has continuously not supported the mask mandates, nor has he supported the suggestion from the CDC of a state-wide lockdown and mask mandates. And he wonders why Florida was once the state that held the highest amount of COVID-19 infections.

“We will categorically not allow any local government to lock people down. We will not let any local government kick anybody out of their job,” DeSantis told reporters, when asked about local officials’ requests for more control over coronavirus mitigation measures.

Of course nobody wants to be in lockdown and be let go from their job, but what other option is there? It’s either you be careful and go in lockdown to stay safe and not die, or you don’t follow the suggestions made and you die of the virus that has, as of today, killed 2.5 million people worldwide.

“We’ve got to trust people,” DeSantis said. “Give them the information to, you know, ask that they use common sense.”

However, most Floridians do not have the common sense he spoke of. Some cities in Florida thankfully realized this and they urged DeSantis to issue a state-wide mandate, which he ignored.

Now that the vaccinations are out, Florida has officially been named the only state without a clear vaccination plan. I would definitely prefer being know as The Sunshine State.

DeSantis says that it is better to not have a vaccination plan, but thankfully he has advisors and the that has pushed him to vaccinate residents 65 and up, long-term care facilities staff and residents and frontline workers. This began in December and since then, the state has vaccinated more than 2.7 million people with 2 million of those 65 and older.

Florida is now moving on to the next group to be vaccinated: Teachers, police, and firefighters 50 years of age and older. Teachers being vaccinated has been a huge debate in the U.S. for a while, and it is finally happening, but not the way most people wanted.

Most people are saying it should be all teachers, not just those 50 years or older because they are all at risk when they are stuck in a classroom filled with germy kids.

So, let us hope that Florida will one day again be called, The Sunshine State.