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Tucker Pats Florida Surgeon General on Back as COVID Numbers Explode

While Carlson lauded Florida’s handling of the pandemic, the state is experiencing one of the worst COVID-19 surges in the country.

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show Thursday night and was praised for his state’s COVID-19 response—as Florida deals with an explosion of new cases from the Omicron variant.

After being hit extremely hard by the Delta variant over the summer, Florida eventually saw caseloads and deaths plunge during the fall months—prompting Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ladapo to justify and celebrate their hands-off approach to the pandemic. While criticizing highly vaccinated states like New York over their recent spike in new cases, Carlson lauded Florida for having “one of the lowest rates of COVID in the country” while rejecting vaccine and mask mandates.

At the end of the softball interview, which featured the two laughing as an on-air graphic blared “How Florida Is Handling COVID the Right Way,” Carlson offered up a closing thought: “I cannot wait until you run HHS. I will come to your swearing-in. Doctor, thank you.”

Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases are rising faster in Florida than in just about any other state, increasing 100 percent in the past two weeks compared to 40 percent for the rest of the nation, according The New York Times database. Drive-thru COVID testing sites in Miami have also experienced incredibly long lines in recent days.

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Justin BaragonaSenior Media Reporter

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