In the ancient history of the Chinese virus, (that would be a couple of months ago) New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo was the media darling. Cuomo was on cable midday news everyday. The bobbleheads gushed over his handling of the crisis.
The New York Times’ Ben Smith wrote, “The governor has emerged as the executive best suited for the coronavirus crisis.” Carl Bernstein told CNN that Cuomo has demonstrated “real leadership of the kind the president of the United States should have provided to the American people throughout this crisis, but hasn’t.”
On the other end of the spectrum is Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis was blasted by the media for his approach. According to the Miami Herald, “Gov. Ron DeSantis is working overtime to preserve our status as the world’s leading exporter of political comedy.”
The Herald went on to note that while there is no manual for how to handle this threat, DeSantis should contact certain Democratic governors who appeared to be decisive and right on top of the issue. These included Cuomo of New York.
Now that some time has passed, just how have these two states fared? Has the “decisive” leadership of Cuomo led the way to fewer deaths and better outcomes? Or has the “timid” leadership of DeSantis been better?
As of this writing Governor Cuomo’s New York has experienced 28,853 deaths. New York has been under a strict lockdown for a long time. Cuomo decisively reduced mass transit schedules so that commuters were forced into more crowded conditions on buses and subways. Cuomo also decisively ruled that long-term care facilities must accept Chinese virus patients into their highly vulnerable populations.
Cuomo dismissed warnings against his deadly policy. Last month, he was asked by a reporter if anyone had objected to New York’s policy of forcing nursing homes to admit recently discharged COVID-19 patients. “They don’t have the right to object,” Cuomo answered before the reporter finished his question. “That is the rule, and that is the regulation, and they have to comply with it.”
It is estimated that upwards of a quarter of all deaths in New York occurred in these facilities. It is unclear when New York might be able to return to normal.
On the other hand Governor DeSantis’ nuanced leadership that focused on protecting the most vulnerable among his state’s population while allowing most others to go about their business has resulted in 2,190 deaths. This is in a state that has a far higher concentration of senior citizens than New York and also a larger population.
Florida never had a strict lockdown and they were one of the first two states to lift restrictions. Florida has just lifted restrictions on spectator sports. They are getting close to being fully back to normal. This has occurred despite the fact that Florida had to deal with a serious influx of people fleeing the situation in NY.
How has the media coverage of this been? In a word, awful. The media have been disappointed that Florida has avoided New York’s fate and emerged from the pandemic scare with flying colors. Governor DeSantis called them out about this.
DeSantis says any insinuation Florida doesn't have best data is typical partisan narrative.
"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 NY."https://t.co/jTzJmKk8X0 pic.twitter.com/1sGw3Z1P3V
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) May 20, 2020
It is good to see that other Republicans are recognizing that punching back against a dishonest narrative is a must. The media are still trying to sell a big lie to a public that is slowly coming to recognize the media’s true colors. This pushback by DeSantis is one step in that process.
Only just recently have some media outlets started to question Governor Cuomo’s approach of seeding the virus in long term care facilities. It certainly appears that Cuomo panicked over the assault by the virus. On Friday USA Today finally asked,
“Why is NY Governor Andrew Cuomo being praised for his coronavirus response?”
Why indeed?
Headlines from a few other outlets:
Cuomo under fire for response to Covid-19 at nursing homes
Cuomo Mishandled COVID in Nursing Homes
“Under fire?” “Mishandled?” Cuomo’s approach along with several other Democratic Governors is borderline criminal. If these were Republicans, I am sure we would have seen comments that these governors “had blood on their hands.”
Andrea Widburg noted,
Of course, at any time, governors in lockdown states could have looked at the data about elderly mortality (as Phil Kerpen did in a Twitter thread) and changed course – but they didn’t. Instead, they stayed the stupid course.
The following by Ace is perhaps a more accurate narrative about Cuomo and other Democrats who ordered the seeding of nursing homes with COVID patients.
Indeed.