GOP's Ron DeSantis 'shooting himself in the foot' on COVID-19 -- and Floridians already regret trusti

[soothsayer]

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/06/gops-ron-desantis-shooting-himself-in-the-foot-on-covid-19-and-floridians-already-regret-trusting-him-to-reopen/

Snip:

“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delayed locking down his state and was then among the first to reopen, and residents are losing trust in his leadership as coronavirus cases spike after the shutdown ended.

“The state’s cases are hitting new records on a near-daily basis and, even more ominously, the percentage of positive cases has been steadily climbing since DeSantis called for the state’s reopening May 18, reported Politico.”


Goes on to give example of group of 16 who went out to celebrate reopening and caught it.

Why is it always a bar or pub people flock to first?

Also... a nurse got it from being so careless? Come on, man.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

1. The entire state of Florida is a super-spreader.

But I'm sure they're taking names at the border.......

[usaf-vet]

16. Great place to hold the GOP 2020 nomination convention. The numbers are bad & going to get worse....

..... but to insure just how really bad it will get, they are going to use cruise ships to house thousands of attendees.

Cruise ships AKA floating Petri dishes meant to nurture the spread of disease like Covid-19.

Great planning.

[Initech]

2. Elections have consequences.

Next time, don't vote for the conservative.

[DBoon]

9. Next time, vote for the better qualified Black guy

Racism has consequences

[iluvtennis]

17. Many didn't vote for the conservative. There was lots of voter suppression in the Governor election.

Truth be told, Andrew Gillum most likely won the race if all of the voting machines in the minority districts had been working and if all of the votes from those minority districts had been counted.

[fierywoman]

18. This.

[genxlib]

3. That could be dangerous

Considering how often the Republicans put their foot in their mouth.

[NCjack]

4. Painful lesson (learned?). Don't get your public health guidance

from politicians. They lie.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. The sad thing is, that Ron DeSantis is the typical Florida politician.

The movers and shakers love a man who can do the most rash, incompetent or negligent decision as long as that decision is profitable for a large segment of their group. The M&S's will do what they have to do to provide cover for someone like Ron DeSantis. From influencing the opinions in the paper, to spreading their own stories in the community. And in Florida, the only thing an M&S has to do is show support for an idea. Everyone else is ready to play their role, hoping they'll get crumbs off the table.

The only chance of exposing this stupid process, is to go national with criticism. I am hoping that someone ties De Santis's stupid logic, to the way that everything else gets done in Florida.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

20. and brainwashed seniors are loyal to a fault.

How many voting Puerto Ricans moved there after Maria I wonder....

[Ms. Toad]

6. The stupid. It hurts.

That’s what happened to Jacksonville nurse Erika Crisp and 15 of her friends, who decided to celebrate what they thought was the end of months of staying indoors and social distancing June 6 by going out to Lynch’s Irish Pub for drinks.

“The first night we go out, [it was] ‘Murphy’s Law,’ I guess,” Crisp told WJXT-TV. “The only thing we have in common is that one night at that one bar.”

The 40-year-old nurse, who has been sick for eight days, and all 15 of those friends have tested positive for COVID-19 — and Crisp said she regrets trusting the governor’s order.

Ya think? Maybe your training as a nurse should have kicked in, over the politically motivated order of an idiot without medical training?

[ScratchCat]

7. Once again, I'll correct this

I just don't get why the media is being dishonest here. Its sad.

Yesterday, OVER 1200 OF THE NEW CASES were in Dade/Broward/Palm Beach counties. This is where the bulk of the cases started and continue to be. The other areas reporting over 100 new cases have LARGE ELDERLY POPULATIONS. The remaining areas of Florida are not - repeat - are not showing high increases. Its primarily HEALTH CARE WORKERS spreading it at this point. Most counties are reporting fewer than 10 new cases a day.

The Florida Department of Health website is your friend.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/96dd742462124fa0b38ddedb9b25e429

[SoonerPride]

8. Actually, it isn't. They fired the director of the website when she refused to lie about the numbers

So she started an independent covid tracking site with the actual real data and not cherry picked by the state government.

Go here instead:

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/7572b118dc3c48d885d1c643c195314e/

[Hugin]

12. +1

You beat me to it.

[SoonerPride]

13. GMTA

[Hugin]

11. Perhaps you'd like to explain why the FDH summarily fired their statistician...

and she started her own independent COVID dashboard?

"Fired Florida coronavirus data scientist now publishes her own dashboard"

From: https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/06/15/fired-florida-coronavirus-data-scientist-publishes-her-own-dashboard/

The Florida Dept of Health doesn't seem to be everyone's friend.

[dutch777]

21. After the elderly/chronically ill....health workers most at risk. Wonder when they will quit?

Medical folks on the front line staring this beast in the face daily knowing the extent of this is entirely controllable with discipline and following science must be getting really fed up.

[Skittles]

22. so what are you saying here

the elderly and health care workers shouldn't count?

[uponit7771]

10. Yep, nearly a month afterwards things start to show up. FL "opened" on May 18 now they're getting

... lit up bad

[louzke9]

15. I'm surprised.....

DeSantis can still walk!

[Caliman73]

19. Republicans more so, but people in general who react emotionally are easily fooled.

The lock downs have been difficult. People suffering economically and psychologically. We all want this to go away and we want to be able to go out and do what we used to do without fear of getting sick.

Good leaders acknowledge that but emphasize the importance of being patient and being safe while trying to mitigate the economic situation, promote self care, and lead from scientific rigor and data as best they can.

Republicans have been leading from emotion and the desire to retain power. They have hidden numbers, downplayed safety protocols, and promoted a fantasy that the virus has gone away. COVID-19 used to be in the news all the time, now it is just another piece of the background.

I know that it has been replaced by the important story of racial justice and police brutality. I also know that it is intertwined with that news as people are out there marching and protesting. It is part of the discussion as the Idiot starts to have his ego rallies again, but the reality is that the importance of testing and contact tracing, which was already lacking, has been completely shut out of any conversation.

When political "leaders" have a cavalier attitude about safety then the people will have a similar attitude. This is especially true when such "leaders" appeal to the emotions and grievances that people have. When the stupid anti-lock down protesters were out there yelling about not being able to get a hair cut or other things that we did routinely, they were saying what many of us who respect the science also think. "Yeah, it sucks that I can't just be out there doing whatever I want like I always have". To us however, getting a haircut or going out for a drink at the bar, or to a movie theater or concert isn't important enough to risk my health, my family's health, or spreading the disease in the community.

Conservatives appear to have different priorities regarding their concept of responsibilities. They say they do not want to get sick and appear to care about their immediate family and some friends (they tend to realize their mistakes when someone close is sick or dies), but they do not seem to care at all about their duty to keep others in the community safe. Masks protect both the wearer AND other people from spread, Everyone should be wearing them, but conservatives say this is tyranny and refuse.

The problem is also poor attribution of responsibility for our current situation. It is not China's fault that our situation is worse. They have some blame for not providing the most accurate information, but as I have said before, other countries had the same misinformation as we did. The difference was in their response to the virus. Those countries with responsive governments moved quickly to throw all available resources to containing the spread and minimizing impact. We did not. Conservatives blame poor people, immigrants, China, and Democrats (trying to destroy Trump). The reality is that our response was poor because we have no leadership.