holy shit, leprosy and malaria are on the rise in Florida. maybe being an anti-science dipshit is a bad thing

what the fuck are you doing, Florida?

here’s a heartwarming story from down in America’s dangly bit:

wait. holy shit. what?

that’s right, malaria —

Florida health officials reported two additional cases of malaria on Thursday. Both were identified last week and neither was linked to travel outside the country. That brings the total number of locally acquired malaria infections in the U.S. to seven since May. All but one case has been in Sarasota County, Florida.

and, leprosy —

Rising evidence is pointing to the possibility that leprosy has become endemic in the southeastern U.S. with Florida being named among the top reported states.

Florida, what the fuck are you doing?

it wasn’t enough to be anti-trans, anti-gay, anti-drag, anti-racial justice, anti-education and anti-voting rights? now you’re also the Plague and Pestilence State?

so many fucking things have to go wrong for malaria to get a foothold in America.

malaria is spread by mosquitos and thrives in tropical climes, which thanks to climate change, Florida now has.

malaria was considered eradicated in the United States in 1951, so, welcome back, malaria! enjoy your stay in sunny Florida.

and leprosy — holy shit, isn’t that something from the Bible?

well, it turns out that while leprosy is still with us, it’s pretty rare — except now, Florida has become ground zero for rising leprosy cases.

it will be fun to see how Florida handles these outbreaks — because, you know, they did such a bang-up job of dealing with covid.

speaking of which, we got some totally unsurprising news this week:

who could have guessed that being a defiantly anti-science dipshit and ignoring all best practices for dealing with a deadly pandemic could be hazardous to your health.

I’m as shocked as you are.

and then there’s this:

gee, cutting money for healthcare while malaria and leprosy are on the rise, is that a bad thing?

malaria and leprosy are curable, providing that one gets an early diagnosis and receives proper medication — both of which require a robust public healthcare infrastructure, and a governor who doesn’t default to crying “woke,” fighting imaginary demons and sweeping actual crises under the rug while pretending that everything is hunky-dory.

will Ron DeSantis do the right thing, or will suffering from jungle diseases and biblical plagues join dying from covid as a proud sign of loyalty to a political party?

stay tuned.