In a unsurprising bit of locking the barn door after the horse has escaped (and wrecked a shopping mall, damaged three dozen cars and tried to impregnate four mares, a donkey and a large dog), Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the formation of a coronavirus rapid response team.

However, the rapid response team will not try in any way to prevent the spread of the pandemic by promoting vaccines or public health steps like mask wearing, according to CNN; instead, the response will be to immediately provide a monoclonal antibody treatment to anyone who become infected.

“This is the most effective treatment that we’ve yet encountered for people who are infected with Covid-19,” DeSantis argued. “This, applied early and properly, has the ability to reduce your likelihood of being hospitalized.”  DeSantis said nothing about promoting efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Florida and Texas account for 40% of all new coronavirus cases in the United States; both states are promoting the abandonment of public health restrictions.  Texas has recently requested help from other states to staff their hospitals; apparently unbeknownst to DeSantis, Florida just received 300 ventilators to help with the patient surge at hospitals.

More than 99% of people hospitalized nationwide with the coronavirus are unvaccinated; less than 0.1% of those who die of the virus are vaccinated.