California and Florida Show Similar COVID Trends Despite Different Policies

Despite battling the COVID-19 pandemic in very different ways, California and Florida have seen similar trends with the number of cases and the death rate falling in recent weeks.

California has become one of the toughest states in the country, with Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom shutting down businesses and schools. Her administration said she was implementing these measures based on the capacity of the county’s intensive care units.

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has taken an entirely different approach. Although he took similar action at Newsom at the start of the pandemic, he eventually lifted statewide restrictions on the economy and outlawed law enforcement to impose fines.

The latest data from Johns Hopkins University shows California has reported nearly 3.5 million cases of COVID-19 in total, while Florida has reported over 1.82 million.

Florida’s population is just over half that of California. But even with that considered, both states have reported similar percentages of cases and deaths compared to the overall population.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in California as a percentage of the population is around 8.8%, while Florida’s is around 8.3%. Of all the people in California who have contracted COVID-19, about 1.35% have died, while in Florida, it’s about 1.57%, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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In the past seven days, Florida has recorded 322 cases and 7.4 deaths per million people, while California has recorded 231 cases and 10.5 deaths per million people. In terms of hospitalizations, Florida has 218 people per million, while California has 244.

DeSantis has taken heat for what many see as its lax approach to the pandemic. Last week, the Republican governor slammed the media for suggesting bias in coverage of the pandemic, even as concerns swirled over more contagious strains of COVID-19 potentially prevalent at Super Bowl rallies.

When a reporter asked DeSantis about the spread of a more contagious variant of the virus amid the post-Super Bowl super-spreading events, the governor took it as an unwarranted blow against the home team.

The public health consequences of the celebratory public gatherings will not be known for weeks, said Dr. Jay Wolfson, professor of public health and associate dean of the University of South Florida School of Medicine.

As hospitalizations from the virus have been on a downward trend for nearly a month – from highs above 7,600 to less than 5,000, according to Wednesday’s state census – concerns remain about possible casualties additional.

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There are now 343 known cases of the British variant in the Sunshine State – more than double what has been detected in California. State health officials said the high number was also an indication of the state’s more robust testing program for new variants.

In California, Newsom faces the prospect of a recall election, sparked by outrage over the economic and social impact of its response to the pandemic. Over the weekend, organizers of the recall campaign said they collected more than 1.5 million signatures needed to qualify for a poll. The committees behind the recall hope to come together well over the 1.5 million required to ensure it qualifies before the March 17 deadline.

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Polls show Newsom’s popularity has waned as residents back down from long-standing coronavirus rules that have closed schools and businesses. The governor also resisted a public backlash for eating with friends and lobbyists at a San Francisco Bay restaurant last fall, while telling residents to stay home. And more recently, an ever-expanding fraud scandal at the National Unemployment Agency has seen its leadership during the pandemic under even greater scrutiny.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.