Florida Should Not Be Emulated

In a 1996 opening sketch on “Saturday Night Live,” U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, played by Norm MacDonald, dreams that he’s debating Thomas J. Whitmore, the fictitious president from “Independence Day,” played by Bill Pullman. The debate takes place after an alien attack on the world that incinerated 70 million Americans.

“I guess he’s hoping to distract from the real issues, the ones that matter to the average American,” President Whitmore says after Senator Dole points out the devastation that occurred under the Whitmore administration’s watch.

“The average American is dead!” Senator Dole retorts.

The quarter-century-old sketch comes to mind when watching U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for New York governor, excoriating New York’s vaccine and mask guidance and mandates, while praising Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s handling of the pandemic. “People feel safer and they’re living life freer,” Mr. Zeldin said of Florida compared to New York, during a recent appearance on Fox News.

If only an exasperated Bob Dole/Norm MacDonald was there to shout: “The average Floridian is dead!”

But, instead, there was Laura Ingraham, dutifully denouncing Democrats and declaring, “They’re killing New York.”

New York State is now averaging 33 deaths attributed to COVID-19 daily, and the rate of fatal cases is slowly rising. It is tragic and was avoidable. New York’s fully vaccinated rate among adults is only 70 percent, and more than 98 percent of COVID deaths are among the unvaccinated. It’s clear both that this pandemic is far from over and that vaccines save lives.

Meanwhile, in Florida, only 61 percent of adults are fully vaccinated — and the state is averaging 138 COVID deaths daily. While the vaccination rate has been slow to grow, Florida is reaching new records every week in case counts and hospitalizations, and the daily death toll has soared. The present surge in deaths, Florida’s third, is near as bad as the previous two, and could surpass them soon.

Though New York could be doing a better job than it is now, compared to Florida, New York has been outstanding. All of this is to say that it is downright terrifying that Mr. Zeldin could become governor and reverse all the progress that New York has made fighting the pandemic.

Mr. Zeldin — who, incidentally, has never been willing to answer questions about his anti-democratic actions on January 6 — insists that children not be required to wear masks in school come September, but he is also against mandatory vaccinations for teachers. It’s a recipe that spells disaster, and Mr. Zeldin’s failure to see that — of perhaps his vile indifference — makes him unqualified for the governorship, or any other public office, for that matter.

Nationally, the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 is at an all-time high. The earliest outbreaks of the novel coronavirus may have largely spared children, but the new variants do not.

Mr. Zeldin ignores this and hopes you won’t be paying attention.

On Fox, Mr. Zeldin cited Floridians telling Mr. DeSantis thank you “for letting them live their lives.”

Cue Bob Dole.