Unlike other governors, DeSantis is hiding and manipulating COVID data as well as providing complete misinformation to drive his political agenda. Let's take a look at just a few of the examples -- and this is not even an all inclusive list:
- Refusing to release Florida COVID data for review by university medical researchers. Florida is the only state not providing researchers with data.
- Creating a special non-scientific formula for Florida for the positive COVID test rate that always makes the level look lower than it is. The proper scientific formula to use as outlined by the CDC is the John Hopkins
- Refusing to provide information on COVID variants in Florida. The information we have about COVID variants in Florida come from testing companies which submitted the data to the Feds. Florida has the highest number and rate of COVID variants -- which are spreading quickly to other states. For example all 37 of the initial COVID variant cases in North Carolina involved people who came from Florida.
- The Sun Sentinel reported this week that 10 days before the Nov. 3 election, Florida’s coronavirus death count dropped significantly, presenting a more favorable picture as people headed to the polls. It happened after DeSantis ordered an additional review of every COVID death certificate. Like President Trump, his mentor, he suggests that the death toll has been made to appear worse than it is. He says the number includes a COVID-infected motorcyclist who died in a crash, for example. But the medical examiner who reviewed that case told our reporters the governor is wrong, that the motorcyclist was never included in the tally. To be included, federal guidelines require COVID-19 to be the cause of death or a “significant” contributing factor. The death count has since returned to pre-election levels.
- DeSantis refuses to say who is performing the recount, but in early November, Ohio sports blogger and anti-masker Kyle Lamb, who writes for a site that claims Florida has over-counted COVID-19 deaths, said he was hired to analyze Florida cases. The governor’s office also gave Jennifer Cabrera, a conservative blogger, exclusive access to COVID-19 death certificates for an article that claims Florida’s death count is exaggerated.
- Entire series of time where the governor's administration hid and manipulated COVID data.
- The only state in the U.S. where the governor has demanded schools systems don't release COVID data
- DeSantis has hidden and belittled recent warnings from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which says Florida must do more to slow the pandemic’s second surge, such as wearing masks and closing indoor spaces at bars and restaurants. He released some reports last week, but only after this newspaper and the Orlando Sentinel filed suit.
- DeSantis has hosted public discussions with contrarian doctors who oppose lockdowns and mask-wearing, and embrace the idea of “herd immunity,” which means letting the coronavirus spread rapidly among less vulnerable people, while isolating the most vulnerable. If DeSantis has done anything to isolate the most vulnerable in support of this strategy, he’s kept that hidden, too.
- Requiring county health departments to get DeSantis' approval before providing COVID information. Only information agreeing with his agenda would be approved.
- The governor's administration demanding COVID data be removed from the state portal which went against his rosy commentary and firing the state's GIS scientist when she did not want to comply. This started a trend of continually removing more data from the state COVID portal to the point where it became useless.
- The Florida Department of Health’s county-level spokespeople were ordered in September to stop issuing public statements about COVID-19 until after the Nov. 3 election.
- The DeSantis administration refused to reveal details about the first suspected cases in Florida, then denied the virus was spreading from person to person — despite mounting evidence that it was.
- State officials withheld information about infections in schools, prisons, hospitals and nursing homes, relenting only under pressure or legal action from family members, advocacy groups and journalists.
- The DeSantis administration brushed aside scientists and doctors who advocated conventional approaches to fighting the virus, preferring scientists on the fringes who backed the governor’s positions.
- The governor’s spokesman regularly takes to Twitter to spread misinformation about the disease, including the false claim that COVID was less deadly than the flu.
- The governor highlighted statistics that would paint the rosiest picture possible and attempted to cast doubt on the validity of Florida’s rising death toll.
- Florida is the only state without a documented vaccination plan required by the federal government. DeSantis says the state does not need a vaccination plan. Of course, the vaccination rollout in Florida has been pure chaos.
- Of course, DeSantis placed COVID positive patients in nursing homes (his so-called "isolation centers") owned by large political donors so they could earn large sums for each patient paid with your tax dollars -- the exact same thing he complained about Cuomo doing in New York. This program had to be stopped in October after COVID overwhelmed all the facilities leading to a large number of deaths. So much for "protect the vulnerable".
- Not to be forgotten is DeSantis providing special pop-up vaccination events in the communities of his wealthy GOP donors. Some of who did not even qualify to receive the vaccination at the time.
that’s a fair point. However do you believe Florida succeeded in their outcome during Covid? If so, do you think that credit falls on the governor.
Or if so, perhaps the success of Florida was related to other factors and desantis had no idea what he was doing other than following Trumps ideology.
Florida has some natural advantages against the COVID virus. The state has no winter, high humidity, and ample sunshine which helps reduce the rate of infection of the virus. As noted by scientists who studied COVID in Florida & elsewhere there is a strong correlation to being indoors and infection levels. In northern states people are indoors in winter leading to a winter peak; in Florida people tend to go indoors when the summer heat starts in June/July.
If the governor of Florida had followed proper public health practices the state should be near the lowest in the nation for COVID, not just the middle of the pack. See Hawaii for another warm, sunny, humid state with a death rate of 32 per million compared to Florida's 151 per million. The difference is that Hawaii followed proper public health practices.
Florida, with the highest U.S. level of more infectious & deadly COVID variants, is currently the epicenter of spreading COVID variants across the U.S. DeSantis has been actively promoting biker week and spring break in Florida -- while showing no concern that the attendees will be spreading more infectious & deadly variants across the U.S. I will note the first 37 COVID variant cases found in North Carolina all involved people who visited Florida. DeSantis' poor public health policies do not only impact the residents of his state but the people living in surrounding states.
The U.S. is currently in a race between vaccinations and variants. If we can just keep the variants from spreading greatly for the next 3 months as vaccination levels quickly rise --- then our entire country has a much greater probability of returning to "normal life" quickly. DeSantis' poor policies and actions undermine the entire COVID national effort.
LOL so your state botched the entire COVID response, destroyed your economy and drove your children to madness and you want to blame Florida?I thought Florida stood in the middle on Covid statistics (I am aware that the statistics have data integrity problems) without shutting down their economy.
I agree on the advantages and that Florida probably exported as much Covid as it does OJ
LOL so your state botched the entire COVID response, destroyed your economy and drove your children to madness and you want to blame Florida?
Hilarious. Its a clown show and the clowns are on acid.
Is English your second language? I have been commending Florida’s response.
Your lack of reading comprehension isn’t surprising. It’s typical for dumb reactionary morons like you.
and that Florida probably exported as much Covid as it does OJ
Yeah obviously that is what you were saying here:
Please. Mind your own state or country and stop blaming others.
I take it from your nick that you are Canadian. Seriously, get a beer and some poutine fries and worry about your own country.it was a snarky comment on the amount of tourism Florida has enjoyed during Covid.
I thought you trumpers were the kings of not taking statements literally. That’s why you could ignore all his babbling racist ignorant lies.
I take it from your nick that you are Canadian. Seriously, get a beer and some poutine fries and worry about your own country.