Local control!

Ron DeSantis has acted quickly…to ensure that no locality does too much to protect people living within their jurisdictions:

Hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a statewide stay-at-home order Wednesday, he quietly signed another one that overrides restrictions put in place by local governments to halt the spread of coronavirus.

The second order states that new state guidelines that take effect Friday morning “shall supersede any conflicting official action or order issued by local officials in response to COVID-19.” In other words, local governments cannot place any limitations that would be more strict than the statewide guidelines.

Locally, it means Hillsborough County cannot mandate churches close their doors, a rule that drew national attention and the ire of the local Republican Party after Tampa megachurch The River of Tampa Bay held two Sunday services, leading to the arrest of pastor Rodney Howard Browne.

[…]

Local government officials expressed outrage that DeSantis is now overriding their work. Many counties and cities passed local stay-at-home orders that closely adhered to advice from public health experts on how to halt the spread of the virus.

Public health experts? There’s your problem! Maybe if they were willing to get their information from Richard Epstein and Steve Doocy things would be different.

It’s pretty hard to disagree with this conclusion:

When the history of the pandemic is written Inslee is gonna come out looking a lot more effective than Cuomo, but I’d be surprised if anyone in hindsight looks as bad as DeSantis. https://t.co/6JSnr54R03— Adam Serwer🍝 (@AdamSerwer) April 1, 2020