Thursday, May 21, 2020

How Florida's COVID Response, Skewered By the Media, Has Been Succeeding

We've been comparing and contrasting the policies, results and media coverage of New York vs. Florida for some time now, for fairly obvious reasons.

New York has been the nation's worst Coronavirus hotspot for months, while Florida received a disproportionate share of negative media coverage for its handling of the virus, even though it seems to be working quite well.

Florida just doesn't look nearly as bad as the national news media and sky-is-falling critics have been predicting for about two months now.

The national news media is mostly based in New York and loves to love its Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, about as much as it loves to hate on Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

It's worth delving into the state's response - as described by DeSantis and a couple of members of his team - because it is the opposite of the media narrative of a Trump-friendly governor disregarding the facts to pursue a reckless agenda.

"We have an emergency status system that gets stood up, as I mentioned, in the case of a hurricane. Hospitals and nursing homes and other long-term-care providers are required to submit data on a daily basis, twice-daily basis, regarding their bed availability." The Florida Department of Health produces a report that DeSantis sees every morning: new cases, number of tests, positivity rates, etc.

Rather than assailing Florida for open beaches in barely-impacted counties and lecturing DeSantis about science, the national media should have been begging him for pointers and tips to share with other governors, especially in the Northeast.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2020/05/21/must-read-how-floridas-covid-response-targeted-by-the-media-has-been-succeeding-n2569158

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