A.G. Gancarski
With Vice President Mike Pence by his side Wednesday, an impassioned Governor again made the case that Florida did better against COVID-19 than just about anywhere else.
“We’ve succeeded,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “and I think that people just don’t want to recognize it because it challenges their narrative, challenges their perception.”
WFLA first reported the comments.
After defending Florida’s data as unparalleled and saying that any “insinuation otherwise is just typical partisan narrative trying to be spun,” the Governor said, before pivoting to media criticism not unlike that offered by Pence’s boss, President Donald Trump.
“You’ve got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like New York. Wait two weeks, Florida’s going to be next. Just like Italy, wait two weeks,” DeSantis thundered.
“Hell, we’re eight weeks away from that, and it hasn’t happened,” he continued.
The Governor went into considerable detail about how the death rate in the Sunshine State trails far behind other regions, including the oft-mentioned “Acela Corridor” where the Washington D.C. and New York City media have questioned a variety of decisions made by DeSantis since March.
“We have a lower death rate than the Midwest … even in our region … Florida has the lowest death rate,” DeSantis said, before conflating himself with the state of Florida.
“I was the number one landing spot from tens of thousands of people leaving the number one hotspot in the world,” DeSantis said.
The Governor, throughout this crisis, has used both in-state media and national press as foils.
The most vivid example of that was his latching on to reaction to the #FloridaMorons trend on Twitter, in which the Governor rehearsed shows of frustration for weeks after the Washington Post covered Jacksonville beach reopenings negatively.
“In mid-April,” the Governor tweeted earlier this month, “out-of-state media had a spasm because Duval County opened its beaches for recreational use. Now 17 days later, have the fears of this drive-by smear against Floridians been realized?”
4 comments
GoodJobGovernor
May 20, 2020 at 2:29 pm
Unfortunately, DeSantis is correct. His management of the pandemic in Florida, a large State, with some very crowded areas and people escaping from the Northeast during the pandemic.
While all this is good news, the only news deemed important by most of the media in Florida, especially those owned and controlled by Gannett or the Chicago tribune, is continuous bad news.
The coverage of the whining and complaining by Democrats, trying to unseat Trump and DeSantis, has been non-stop and relentless.
It is sad, that the media have become political lapdogs, instead of reporters dedicated to actual facts and news.
Frankie M.
May 20, 2020 at 4:55 pm
Easy for DeSantis to frame the narrative when he’s the one who controls the information flow. Also how can he claim to get mad about NYers coming down here when he’s too scared to close the beaches in the first place. Of course they’re gonna come down here. You might as well hold neon signs at the border that read “Open 4 Business.” Open up your books if you’ve got nuthin to hide Ronnie. I’m betting Chiner isn’t the only place intentionally underreporting covid deaths.
Science
May 21, 2020 at 8:46 am
COVID deaths could be four times what they’re reporting and Florida is still doing better than New York.
And there’s zero evidence for a spike after beaches or other outdoor spaces. Here or anywhere else. None. There’s actually been decreases.
martin
May 22, 2020 at 8:46 am
ets restrict access to 1,000+ acre parks and beaches while allowing people to wander around home depot and lowes holding paint and carpet samples. Good job dems on that one.
We keep hearing the term “follow the science”. Yet the dems ignore the science and write their own narrative.
Science; the mortality rate is .03%. 50% of those infected were/are over the age of 70. 80% of this .03% mortality rate was/is among those over 80. This age group has the greatest number of lung, heart, kidney, type II diabetes.
Who did the dems fail to protect? Re-read the above statistics. Where is the media uproar?
66% of those infected in NY city were those in “lock down”. Cuomo ordered hospitals to release infected seniors to nursing homes and other senior care facilities.
Basic science; virology, microbiology, as well as public health teaches us that we do not isolate the healthy. We isolate and treat the sick. The healthy develop herd immunity, thereby reducing further spread.
Science, Dem’s do not want to hear science. They are more interested in their anti-Trump agenda. Keep the population scared and locked down.
The science is out there for everyone to easily find and read. Ignore the media.
The media walked off the job long ago. No longer do they seek out and report the truth.
Thank goodness we have a governor with an IQ.
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