Gov DeSantis Files Lawsuit Against CDC for Economic Damage to Florida

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Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has filed a massive lawsuit against the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for economic damage caused to the state's businesses due to pandemic-related lockdowns.

Gov. DeSantis is suing the CDC in federal court in a case that would hold the federal health body accountable for financial hardships put onto Americans through shutdown orders.

The governor revealed the lawsuit during a press conference at Satellite Beach over the weekend.

The announcement followed up on DeSantis's earlier statement in April about his plans to take action against the CDC.

“But I can tell you this, our state was predicted to get hit worse on Covid economically than any other state because of our service economy and our tourism base,” he said.

“And what we were able to do by keeping Florida open, we saved hundreds of thousands of jobs in the restaurant, hotel, hospitality industry."

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"We saved thousands of businesses," Gov. DeSantis said.

"You know how I know that?

"Because every time I go out, someone will come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for saving my job,’ or ‘Thank you for saving my business.’

"So we’ve been able now with 4.7 percent unemployment, that’s significantly less than the national average of 6% and way less than lockdown states like New York and California have.”

“So we’re doing it right,” he continued.

“We obviously want to make sure those folks are able to succeed in terms of getting the people they need, but just think of where we could be.

"I mean, this is a good problem to have compared to seeing people — in some parts of the country, these businesses are dead.

"They’re never coming back.

"This is the heavy hand of government crushing family businesses, ruining jobs and destroying millions of people’s lives.

"We chose another path in Florida; it was the right path; it was the successful path, and yes, we want to make sure that these things are — there’s actually restaurants that have to close one day a week because they don’t have enough folks.”

DeSantis pointed to the economic impact that the CDC’s guidance has had on the cruise ship industry in Florida.

“So that is fundamentally unfair,” he continued.

“It makes no sense and we are suing the CDC right now.

"We have a hearing coming up in federal court.

"But I can tell you, I want the cruises going.

"I want the cruise ships going; I think it’s vital for our economy.

"There’s tens of thousands of folks that are impacted by this issue.”

“When we announced the lawsuit in Miami, I’ll never forget it,” DeSantis added.

“We had a bunch of folks behind me, kind of like this, but they were all people who worked in the industry, and not just worked for the cruise lines.

"You have all these smaller businesses that support this industry, and one of the ladies went up there.

"She said, ‘You know, we were told two weeks. It was hard for us, but we were there. We wanted to do our part.’

"Here we are a year later.

"And she’s like ‘You know, there’s been a lot of toll in our community because of Covid. We’ve had a lot of deaths, but they’re not deaths from Covid. They’re deaths from despair’.”

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DeSantis also blasted the CDC's policies for schools, arguing that the federal health agency is prioritizing politics over science.

“This has implications for potentially any industry and look, with all due respect to the CDC, I mean if you look at some of the stuff that they’ve done on school openings, where they’re basically doing the teacher’s union’s bidding when they say these kids should be masked in summer camp outdoors,” the governor said.

“I’m sorry, that’s not science, that’s politics.”