Sun Sentinel Editorial Board
October 28, 2020
Two weeks ago, the mask-less governor high-fived other barefaced Republicans at a rally for President Trump in Sanford. Nice role model. “We’re not going to let them shut down our country,” DeSantis said, apparently referring to Democrats, who have made no such threat.
Then DeSantis argued against quarantines for students exposed to the virus. His comment contradicted guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization that anyone who comes within six feet of someone with the virus for more than 15 minutes should quarantine for two weeks.
The governor wants the benefit of the doubt on virus-related issues, but he doesn’t deserve it. He hasn’t led the state effectively.
In May, DeSantis reopened the state too soon. New cases spiked to the point where Florida set a national one-day record. A month ago, DeSantis moved the state into Phase 3 opening against the recommendation of public health experts. He also prohibited cities and counties from enforcing mask mandates on individuals.
Predictably, cases are rising again. On Tuesday, Palm Beach County’s emergency management director said the county is in a “resurgence” of the virus. Six of the county’s 13 metrics – among them the positive test rate, hospital admissions and deaths – have gone from green to red.
And as the Sun Sentinel reported, the number of COVID-19 deaths in Florida – roughly 16,505 – could be undercounted by 25 percent, based on a new CDC study.
Faced with numbers he doesn’t like but can’t control, DeSantis seems prepared to hide or rig the numbers. That would be his most irresponsible move yet.
When the Orlando Sentinel this month wanted a report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force that spoke of “early warning signs” for Florida, the DeSantis administration refused. The paper had to hire lawyers to get the report.
With numbers rising, the governor also may shift from daily reports to weekly updates. Compiling those daily counts takes a lot of staff time, the governor’s apologist told an Orlando television station. “Information won’t change,” he said.
Such a move would be about optics and politics, not public health. Potential outbreaks require quick responses. But we’re in the last days of voting, and every bad number makes DeSantis – and thus President Trump – look bad as Trump tries to claim that Florida is “rounding the corner.”
Then there’s the information itself.
For months, Florida compiled COVID-19 deaths by using reports from county medical examiners. Now the information will come from doctors who treated patients.
Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees said the change will relieve overburdened medical examiners. It also could affect the total. Rivkees said he became concerned when reports began arriving two months after a death.
Rivkees, though, hardly has been seen in public since April. His isolation began after he opined that Floridians might have to wear masks and social distance for a year.
It would be helpful if Rivkees’ reappearance aligned with a new attitude on the virus. Instead, he seems more like part of an attempt to question the numbers.
House Speaker Jose Oliva, R-Miami, offered his own criticism of the death totals. He referred to the “loosening of process and fidelity to established norms in classification.” Oliva added, “Our leaders cannot build upon the soft-footing of compromised data.”
We agree with that last part. But DeSantis has been the one comprising on the data. To review:
The governor long refused to release data on COVID-19 cases at individual nursing homes. He also fought the release of data that shows the number of people currently hospitalized with the virus. And the woman who created the state’s COVID-19 dashboard said DeSantis administration officials told her to manipulate the data to justify the first reopening in May.
DeSantis then forced out Rebekah Jones, who has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit. She told London’s Guardian newspaper that when it comes to Florida and the virus, “They’re not listening to the scientists.”
After seven months, you would think that the DeSantis administration at least would be able to supply regular, credible information. But researchers at Johns Hopkins University contend that Florida is misleading on such metrics as the positive test rate.
As always, DeSantis talks past bad news. “Yes, we need to mitigate the effects of this disease,” he told reporters. “But this virus is not the end of all health issues. Health is about peoples’ physical, mental, emotional, social well-being.
“So mitigating one virus needs to be done, but it shouldn’t be done to the exclusion of anything else involving peoples’ well-being. . .You’ve gotta look at the whole enchilada in terms of health.”
As always, DeSantis misses the point. Containing the virus will help all those ingredients in “the whole enchilada.” It also will bolster the economy.
But DeSantis’ priority has been to present an image of recovery that will help Trump. Whoever wins the election, though, Florida will be dealing with the virus. Irresponsibility only will bring more pain.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.