This article is part of David Leonhardt’s newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday.

Much of red America is finally going on lockdown.

After resisting the pleas of public health experts for days, the governors of Florida, Georgia and Mississippi — all states won by President Trump in 2016 — announced yesterday that they will be ordering their residents to stay home, effective Friday.

The turnabout from Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, was especially stark. DeSantis had previously allowed spring break vacationers to socialize on Florida's beaches, where they likely spread the virus. Florida, of course, also has one of the nation’s largest populations of people over 65, who are especially threatened by the virus.

The new lockdowns are welcome, because they will help slow the virus. But they’re also coming much later than they should have. A big reason that the virus has recently been spreading more rapidly in the United States than in Europe or Asia is the slow response from many American political leaders.