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St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman lashed out at DeSantis for the move.

\"Forgive me if I want to follow the experts and the opinions of experts like the CDC,\" the Democrat said on ABC News’ podcast \"Start Here\" on Tuesday morning. \"Not even quite 44% yet of the population of my county has been [at least partially] vaccinated. I was really hoping ... to get at least above 50% vaccinations before we start looking at scaling back. But we've scaled back.\"

\"Truthfully ... 70%, we're never going to see that,\" he said citing the 70% vaccinated population threshold experts say needs to be reached for herd immunity. \"I mean, I'd love to say we would ... [but] I don't think we'll hit it. Because for whatever reason, it's become politicized. Our health has become politicized. And that should have never, ever happened in this country.\"

The virus still poses a threat. On Monday, around 3,100 Floridians were hospitalized with COVID-19 as the primary diagnosis, per state data.

\"PHOTO:
Chris OMeara/AP, FILE
PHOTO: St. Petersburg, Fla., mayor Rick Kriseman reads a proclamation during a Juneteenth 2020 celebration outside the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum, in St. Petersburg, Fla., June 19, 2020.
>

St. Petersburg currently requires masks, and while indoors people must socially distance, but there is no limitation on restaurant capacity. Large-scale events are allowed outdoors with masks and other guidelines.

Kriseman said DeSantis should be thanking cautious local officials for keeping cases down, especially as the state surpassed a devastating 2.24 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic and more than 35,000 resident deaths, according to state data.

When asked if a governor or state legislature should have the right to invalidate a city’s COVID-19 restrictions, Kriseman said, “I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

\"I know what my community needs,\" Kriseman said. \"The governor doesn't always know what each individual community needs because they're not here. They don't live here.\"

\"PHOTO:
Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: A crowd of people walk along Ocean Drive in the South Beach neighborhood of Miami on March 27, 2021.
>

A string of other local officials have also denounced DeSantis' lift of COVID-19 restrictions.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said, “I’m deeply concerned by this decision. We are still in a public health emergency, and our economy has not fully rebounded from crisis.\" 

Florida Rep. Charlie Crist, the state's former Democratic governor who announced Tuesday he will run for governor again, said DeSantis “failed to lead during the pandemic, leaving local officials as the last line of defense against the pandemic, forcing them to make the hard decisions to save lives,” the Tampa Bay Times reported.

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