GOP Miami mayor hits DeSantis over lack of COVID-19 restrictions

Miami’s Republican mayor knocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Sunday over the lack of control he says state officials have given local authorities to implement measures aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.

In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Mayor Francis Suarez (R) told host Margaret Brennan that the power to implement many citywide restrictions, including mask mandates and occupancy limits at bars and nightclubs, remains in the governor’s hands.

“Unfortunately, that is not in our purview,” said Suarez, who went on to call for DeSantis to meet with him and hear from local leaders about measures he said were “backed by science” and could reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Suarez’s comments come as health officials have warned that a variant of COVID-19 originating from the U.K. and thought to spread more quickly among individuals is present in Florida, with dozens of known cases in the state.

DeSantis, a top ally of former President Trump, has come under fire for his refusal to implement measures such as mask mandates that health experts now say are effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19. 

The state has seen rates of new cases decrease in recent days after a spike in early January drove levels of new infections above a peak reached last summer, when the state became the third in the nation to reach 1 million total infections.