DeSantis “doubts” the federal authorities despatched a whole lot of ventilators to Florida … he is mistaken

On Tuesday, DeSantis held a press conference at which, it is true, he defended his anti-mandate mandate by censuring the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for not having enough money and time to investigate the safety of Had spent masks. After all, it is not the case that everyone, from medical professionals to miners to carpenter, has been wearing masks for decades. The N-95 mask itself has been around for over 25 years.

DeSantis then said it was “perfectly reasonable” for parents to say that they would send their child to school without a mask. He then renewed his threats against school officials who insisted on masks, claiming it was perfectly fine to block the salaries of school board members and principals who approved mask mandates for violating his order.

During that press conference, DeSantis claimed that cases of COVID-19 were on the decline, which prompted an immediate response from a reporter who said he had just come out of a local hospital: “Doctors tell me it’s only getting worse here will, and I’ve heard it from several people. ”This statement was backed up by record numbers of new hospital admissions.

DeSantis responded by basing his claim that things are getting better on “leading indicators that will later be reflected in the hospitals”.

At the same event, as reported by CNN, DeSantis was asked about a testimony from a Strategic National Stockpile official who stated earlier in the day that the federal government had sent 200 more ventilators and 100 high-flow nasal cannula kits to the state of Florida in response to an urgent request.

DeSantis scoffed at the idea. “I would honestly doubt that’s true,” said DeSantis, “but I’ll look because we have a lot of stuff that we’ve had in store for the past year and a half through the business continuity management department. I haven’t had any inquiries.” over my desk. I have not been informed of this. “

However, as the Washington Post confirms, these ventilators were sent. Because they were requested.

Weesam Khoury, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health [(DOH)]The Post told the Post on Wednesday that the agency helped direct the request to the federal government, saying it is “reviewing health needs across the country on a consistent basis.”

Why wouldn’t the DOH pass this request by DeSantis? There are a couple of options. One is that they just didn’t think it was necessary; In most states, governors do not attempt to micromanage professionals dealing with a public health crisis. But then this is Ron DeSantis, the guy who goes out of his way to send threatening letters to individual school administrators because he has the boldness to protect students.

That brings the other possibility: The Ministry of Health didn’t ask DeSantis because they feared he would say no. After all, the adoption of ventilators by the federal government – by Joe Biden’s federal government – is a clear signal that DeSantis’ policies in Florida are a disaster. That the 134,506 cases registered there last week, more than a quarter of all registered cases in the country, show a government that has completely abandoned its citizens. The lack of adequate ventilators shows that DeSantis was more concerned with maintaining the most extreme political stance than attending to the real needs of its citizens.

Why should the federal government receive inquiries from Florida that did not go through DeSantis’ desk? Because walking around DeSantis is the only way to get things done in Florida.

There is, of course, a third option. DeSantis can just lie. Somehow that doesn’t seem unlikely.