Sunshine Sentinel

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. President Joe Biden are clashing over how to approach COVID-19 pandemic measures.

Biden recently criticized the governors of Florida and Texas for their COVID-19 response, asking them to "get out of the way" of people trying to do the right thing, WESH 2 News reported.

"Florida and Texas account for one-third of all new COVID-19 cases in the entire country. Just two states," Biden said, according to WESH 2 News. "Look, we need leadership from everyone. If some governors aren't willing to do the right thing to beat this pandemic, they should allow businesses and universities who want to do the right thing to be able to do it. I say to these governors: please help. If you aren't going to help, please get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives."

During a recent public update on the state of Florida's economy, DeSantis responded to Biden's comments and said that he will not impose mask or vaccine mandates, leaving those decisions up to individuals, including parents of school children.

"If you're coming after the rights of parents in Florida? I'm standing in your way. If you're trying to deny kids a proper in-person education, I'm gonna stand in your way and stand up for the kids in Florida," DeSantis said, according to WESH 2 News. "If you're trying to restrict people and impose mandates and ruin their jobs and livelihood, if you are trying to lock people down, I am standing in your way. I am standing for the people of Florida."

DeSantis believes that mask and vaccine mandates would harm Florida businesses and this isn't the first time DeSantis has defied the Biden administration. DeSantis has taken a number of actions to try and get the state's economy on the road to a strong recovery, including opting out of federal unemployment benefits and reinstating the work-search requirement, according to Sunshine Sentinel. Florida has seen more jobs added in recent months.

CNBC News reported that a Department of Labor official confirmed that the federal government could not prevent states from opting out of the program. Florida was one of 25 states opting out of federal programs offering weekly supplements to state unemployment benefits and aid self-employed and gig workers.

Florida's Department of Economic Opportunity reported that the state's unemployment rate was 5.1% as of July, which was below the June national average of 5.9% and July national average of 5.4%, according to Statista.

Nilda Blanco, senior director of Business Intelligence for CareerSource Central Florida, said all industries in the region are in a hiring boom and wages are climbing, Bay News 9 reported. Kroger, a recent addition to central Florida, has reported hiring more than 400 hundred associates and intends to hire up to an additional 300 by the end of the year depending on sales.

However, these economic gains may have come at a cost to the public health. According to a report from the Florida Department of Health, there were roughly 150,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the week of July 13, compared with just over 10,000 cases for the week of June 11. Positivity rates in the same time period rose from 3.4% to 19.8%.