Dear Friends,
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this country undertaker’s column and for shouldering the responsibility of being an informed citizen that cares about what happens in this state and country.
Many different feelings strike me as we look around at what is happening in the world today, but the strongest feeling that keeps rising to the top…is gratefulness. Grateful that we still live in a country where we have an incredible amount of freedom. A few weeks ago, the world watched the situation unfold in Afghanistan (thanks to Joe Biden’s complete lack of competency) where we saw images of mothers throwing their children over barbed wire in hopes that some friendly troops might take them out of the country. We saw Afghan youths clinging to U.S. cargo planes as they took off, only to come crashing back to the earth when they found they could hold on no longer. Such disturbing images remind us that freedom is that dear and most days we have no idea how fortunate and blessed we are to live in America. Let us keep the people of Afghanistan in our prayers that they may one day enjoy the freedoms that we do in this country and let our spirit of gratefulness glorify our heavenly father.
Our battle with COVID continues in Florida and the recent surge is very concerning. At this point, there isn’t anyone that hasn’t been touched in some way by this illness and we grieve with those that have lost loved ones. We are extremely optimistic that a big part of this fight can be won through the use of the monoclonal antibody treatment and we encourage anyone who has tested positive to consider this option. In August, our Governor approved twenty different pop-up sites around the state that will administer this treatment, free of charge to Florida residents. As of this writing, there are at least six that are already open in Duval, Orange, Brevard, Broward, Pinellas, and Palm Beach counties. For more information, visit https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/treatment/. This is a lifesaving treatment but you have to act early and before your symptoms become too severe.
For months now, we have focused on prevention and that is fine, but those issues have become very political. Some of them, for good reason. Mask mandates and vaccine passports have no business in a free society and our Governor has done a great job in balancing the issue of public safety and individual freedoms. There shouldn’t be anything political about offering a treatment, yet Florida democrats are attacking Governor DeSantis for making this treatment available. Not because they don’t think it works, but because they think the Governor should be mandating vaccines. Let people make their own medical decisions and let the Governor do his job. It’s that simple.
We return to Tallahassee this month for our first week of committee meetings and in my next column, we should have a good report on what we see on the horizon for the 2022 Legislative Session. Thank you for letting me serve you in the Florida Senate.
Onward & Upward,
