DeSantis had it right early when he was very pro restrictions and shut downs, and pushing the vaccine as a good thing. Florida actually did well with the first and second waves of covid pre vaccine and keeping their death and hospitalizations down.
Then he decided the politics was to support the death cultists in the base and like a typical politician hypocrite he switched his view going full anti-vax while ensuring he and his rich donor base in Florida got the vaccine first. And in the waves of covid post vaccine availability you saw Florida's death hospitalization rate amongst the worst in the country while other States who were taking more precautions got way better.
The ONLY thing that makes Florida's numbers look at all reasonable are the low numbers at the beginning waves when Ron was all in on shut downs and restrictions. If he had the same view death cult view, he later developed, from the beginning, it is almost assured Florida would be worst in the nation.