Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Dr. Deborah Birx allegedly carried out COVID-19 lockdowns as a “science experiment.”
The governor initially wrote in his new book, “The Courage To Be Free,” that Birx told him the lockdowns are their “own science experiment.” DeSantis questioned the potential consequences of lockdowns and that people should not be subjected to experiments by government officials.
“I said, ‘Deborah, just tell me. When in American history has this been done and what were the results because I kind of feel like we’re flying blind here and we may be doing things that are gonna be damaging.’ And she said, ‘You know, it’s kind of our own science experiment that we’re doing in real time.’ That didn’t sit well with me, you’re a citizen of a republic, not a guinea pig.”
The governor received criticism from Birx for lifting pandemic restrictions in his state. In December 2020, Birx pointed fingers at Florida for taking minimal action in increasing COVID-19 restrictions. (RELATED: Ron DeSantis Gets Irritated At ‘COVID Theater’ During Press Conference, Tells Students Behind Him To Take Their Masks Off)
“Right now, across the sun belt, we have governors and mayors who have cases equivalent to what they have in the summertime, yet aren’t putting in the same policies and mitigations that they put in the summer that they know change the course of this pandemic across the south,” Birx previously said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
In the early days of the pandemic, DeSantis issued executive orders to close beaches, nightclubs, gyms and entertainment centers statewide and passed one of the strictest travel bans in the country. He began reopening these locations and reversing his policies in September 2020.
DeSantis announced an executive order in July 2021 to ban mask mandates in schools and leave masking requirements up to the parents. He criticized the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guideline that all students wear a mask, accusing the agency of showing “a callous disregard for the physical, emotional, and academic well-being of our children.”
He further opened up his state before any other governor and pushed back against vaccine passports to provide proof of vaccination by signing an executive order prohibiting the documents.