How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Grumpy Old Teacher

Subtitle: Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, Has No Plan to Vaccinate Essential Workers

What else would you expect from the man who follows the ramblings of Scott Atlas, who invited him to Florida to tour the state while proclaiming that basic health measures were unnecessary in a runaway pandemic and that there was little risk to the general population?

What else would you expect from the man with such little respect for democracy and the vote of the citizens of other states that he advocated that his party simply dispense with the state-certified electors and substitute their own?

What else would you expect from the man who demands that the state run a full economy, that Floridians needlessly expose themselves to sickness, long-term disabilities, and death so that the world will return to Disney World?

There will be no mask mandates, no restaurant restrictions, no bar closings, whatever and woe to any local government, county or city, that tries to impose their own. The governor has ordered them unenforceable.

In related news, Disney has announced that they will lay-off 28,000 employees at their theme parks, with 18,000 of those in Orlando. That’s one in every seven. In 2021, perhaps another 4,000 workers will lose their jobs.

But the geographically-challenged governor is not fazed by such news as he says that most of the lay-offs are in California and takes an ideological shot at another governor by claiming that the lay-offs come from the California lockdowns ordered there.

There will be no vaccine in Whoville. After all, Cindy Lou Who is too young to catch it, according to the Grinch logic of Governor DeSantis.

Ron DeSantis couldn’t be more wrong about the lay-offs. It seems that Florida’s refusal to take basic measures to control the viral spread has left the world unwilling to visit. The economic hit, which the Governor also refuses to acknowledge as he draws down reserves to pretend that all is well, is coming in the new year.

New teachers had better not spend those famous $5,000 to 6,000 raises in minimum starting pay. The claw-back negotiations will begin in the spring.

For that matter, the state legislature did not provide the funding for the $47,500 salary touted by the governor. As contract bargaining draws to a close in Florida’s school districts, the actual numbers are falling short.

For Florida’s Grinch, it matters not. He cavorts at high-school football games, maskless, with his children in tow, even as stories of teachers dying from Covid-19 spread across the state: here, here, and here, for example.

Despite the call of the Florida Educators Association for teachers, designated front-line and essential workers–even the governor has acknowledged such as he has insisted that teachers must work from reopened school buildings–to receive priority in vaccination plans, the governor plans to do no such thing.

He will ignore the guidance of the CDC and do what he wants. After all, he has a re-election campaign coming and he has had to have taken notice of his poll numbers. He has become one of the most unpopular governors in the nation; his handling of the pandemic receives especial disapprobation as more than 50% of Floridians are disapproving of his performance in regards to the virus and in his determination and forcing children back to school.

But the governor must figure that he will win the votes of Florida’s retirees as they are the only ones who will receive the vaccine for some time to come. But they will have to hope that their medical needs will not be severe because those who come to their aid will not be vaccinated.

It’s a plot worthy of the Grinch. However, the story will end differently for Ron DeSantis, holed up in the Executive Mansion, is unable to hear the singing of the villagers. His heart isn’t capable of growing three sizes or at all.

And he wonders why people call him DeathSantis.

If you don’t believe that, you must read up on Florida’s broken unemployment system and the governor’s refusal to meet the requirements for the federally-provided $300 unemployment benefit. We don’t have the resources, he says, and rather than hearing a call to action, he scraps the program.

There will be no Christmas for a desperate state wanting its workers protected: EMTs, police, firefighters, teachers, grocery store workers, and more. Grinch DeSantis will keep the vaccine from them even as he insists that they risk infection each day they report to work.