CAPE CORAL, Fla -- Governor Ron DeSantis remains under fire when it comes to his overall handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, with one Florida mayor now sending him a scathing letter about it.
The Mayor of Miami Beach said DeSantis was "unprepared" and "failed" when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Florida reported the most new cases in the U.S. again on Monday.
The latest state report shows two Southwest Florida counties remain in the top 10 for total cases:
All of this is leading many to take a close look at how the governor has handled the pandemic.
When it comes to areas like South Florida, who leads the state in total cases, many feel there's a disconnect.
"I do think South Florida is definitely stabilized and I think Miami is showing some signs of improvement as well," said DeSantis.
Since reopening, Florida's average number of daily new cases jumped about 1500%. Dozens of hospitals throughout the state have run out of ICU beds. In Miami Dade County, ICU beds are beyond 140% capacity, and hospitals have been forced to convert regular beds to ICU beds.
In a scathing letter to the governor, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber called out DeSantis for failing when it comes to his contact tracing response to COVID-19, which he says led to the "unconstrained growth of the virus."
"We are in the midst of a very, very vicious spike in our community in Miami-Dade County," said . Gelber
He said he needed more than 800 contact tracers when the state reopened, and had less than 200. He said tracers sometimes only tracked about 7% of those infected, over a two-week period.
Governor DeSantis also remains under fire for his resistance to a county wide mask mandate, and his push to reopen schools.
