As the worst surge of COVID-19 cases floods Florida, people are asking where in the world Gov. Ron DeSantis is hiding. The ride-or-die for team omicron hasn’t been seen since Dec. 17, when he appeared alongside his equally anti-science dope Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo to promote a monoclonal antibody therapy developed by AstraZeneca. 

Cases in the state are at record highs. Christmas Day saw a stunning 32,000 new diagnoses, and just Wednesday, the CDC reported 47,000 new cases in Florida—a new single-day record number.

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            Thursday, Dec 30, 2021 ·  6:05:33 PM +00:00

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      Rebekah Sager
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    After publishing this story, Daily Kos learned that Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, claimed the governor was on vacation.

Pushaw additionally tweets DeSantis’ schedule. 

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who oversees Orlando County, the largest in the state, ripped into DeSantis Tuesday, demanding to know where the governor is and why he isn’t offering any help. 

“Our residents, all Florida residents, should be outraged, and they should ask the question, ‘Where is our state? Where is our governor? Where is Ron DeSantis now?’ When is the last time you saw the governor do a press briefing on COVID-19?” Demings said at a press conference. 

Miami-Dade has officially hit a 25% positivity rate, meaning one in four tests has returned positive in the last week. 

Meanwhile, do-nothing, DeSantis, signed four bills into law in November restricting mask and vaccine mandates, and Floridians are posting videos of mile-long lines at testing sites a month later. 

“If we opened five sites, the five sites would be full and have two-hour waiting times,” Dr. Raul Pino told the Orlando Sentinel about opening new testing locations in Orange County. 

On Monday, Orange County recorded over 10,000 COVID-19 tests and discovered 2,500 infections. 

Tuesday, Demings reinstated a mask mandate for all county employees.

The HIll reports that 80 county employees tested positive for COVID, up from 19 last week. 

“To protect our employees and those who use our services, they’ll be wearing masks for the foreseeable future,” Demings said. 

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat running to unseat the currently M.I.A. DeSantis in 2022, told MSNBC host Tiffany Cross she has no idea where the governor is.  

“I don’t know where he is,” Fried said, “But to be quite honest, even if he was here, he wouldn’t be doing anything anyhow, and we know that.”

Tuesday, Fried sent a letter to DeSantis’ office begging him to ramp up his response to omicron. 

“Governors across the nation are being called upon to meet the urgency of this moment and redouble their efforts to fight this virus, and your fellow governors, both Republican and Democrat, are stepping up to the challenge,” Fried said.

Taking a page from former President Donald Trump’s playbook—lie when you’re called out—DeSantis attempted to appear to be out and about around Florida on Dec. 28, even posting a photo of himself at a local restaurant. 

The photo was taken on Dec. 16. Come on, Ronny. Who do you think you’re fooling?