Florida DeSantis in April vs. U.S. Record daily new Corona cases

[Halbhh]

Because Florida closed late, and then opened early, now a what the Governor did in April begins to come to mind after the all-U.S. one day record of new cases just yesterday:

Florida’s 15,300 new COVID-19 cases sets a new U.S. pandemic record, topping New York’s April 4 peak
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-florida-coronavirus-deaths-cases-sunday-july-12-20200712-t6z4lz6emncnrirdergjws3nly-story.html


But in April, after blocking cities from doing stronger restrictions than the state (!! -- yes you read that right!)...DeSantis reopened early:


"It has been seven weeks since Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, took a coronavirus “victory lap”, pressing ahead with a swift reopening program while berating the media for a “doom and gloom” approach he said bore little relation to reality.

“We haven’t seen an explosion of new cases,” DeSantis insisted during a 29 April news conference, a day on which the state’s Covid-19 tally increased by 347.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” DeSantis, a keen Trump ally, added.
Florida’s Covid-19 surge shows the state's reopening plan is not working


Already in late march and April Governor DeSantis had made the news by dragging his feet to do a stay at home -- until finally Trump had to call him on the phone to begin a stay at home -- and then the Gov. did this surprising extra thing --

Ron DeSantis is blocking local Florida officials from issuing stricter stay-at-home guidance than his own
Posted By Colin Wolf on Thu, Apr 2, 2020 at 6:02 pm

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just screwed local governments from protecting themselves

Ron DeSantis quietly signed second executive order targeting local coronavirus restrictions
The order says the statewide stay-at-home order ‘shall supersede any conflicting official action or order issued by local officials.’ Apr. 2 --
Ron DeSantis quietly signed second executive order targeting local coronavirus restrictions

Which doesn't make any sense in terms of the basic reality that there are virus hotspots where stronger local restrictions help without harming wider areas economically. It's smart to have special local restrictions only where needed!....

It was political it appears. Not the way to make crucial decisions like this one.

 

[Halbhh]

But states that did this insane act of preventing local cities from stronger restrictions have abandoned that, like a hot potato burning their hands. Now local areas can do stronger restrictions, the only sensible policy all along.

As case counts soar in Arizona and Texas, governors in those states are loosening restrictions on what local leaders can do to fight COVID-19 that they’d earlier imposed. By now, that may be too little and too late to meaningfully stop viral spread, but it does shift the onus from state capitols to city and county officials.
Governors Are Passing the Coronavirus Buck to Mayors

It's too late to prevent all the harm -- they already did serious damage this way, these governors.

But better late than never still.

 

[Redwingfan9]

Because Florida closed late, and then opened early, now a what the Governor did in April begins to come to mind after the all-U.S. one day record of new cases just yesterday:

Florida’s 15,300 new COVID-19 cases sets a new U.S. pandemic record, topping New York’s April 4 peak
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronavirus/fl-ne-florida-coronavirus-deaths-cases-sunday-july-12-20200712-t6z4lz6emncnrirdergjws3nly-story.html


But in April, after blocking cities from doing stronger restrictions than the state (!! -- yes you read that right!)...DeSantis reopened early:


"It has been seven weeks since Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, took a coronavirus “victory lap”, pressing ahead with a swift reopening program while berating the media for a “doom and gloom” approach he said bore little relation to reality.

“We haven’t seen an explosion of new cases,” DeSantis insisted during a 29 April news conference, a day on which the state’s Covid-19 tally increased by 347.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” DeSantis, a keen Trump ally, added.
Florida’s Covid-19 surge shows the state's reopening plan is not working


Already in late march and April Governor DeSantis had made the news by dragging his feet to do a stay at home -- until finally Trump had to call him on the phone to begin a stay at home -- and then the Gov. did this surprising extra thing --

Ron DeSantis is blocking local Florida officials from issuing stricter stay-at-home guidance than his own
Posted By Colin Wolf on Thu, Apr 2, 2020 at 6:02 pm

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just screwed local governments from protecting themselves

Ron DeSantis quietly signed second executive order targeting local coronavirus restrictions
The order says the statewide stay-at-home order ‘shall supersede any conflicting official action or order issued by local officials.’ Apr. 2 --
Ron DeSantis quietly signed second executive order targeting local coronavirus restrictions

Which doesn't make any sense in terms of the basic reality that there are virus hotspots where stronger local restrictions help without harming wider areas economically. It's smart to have special local restrictions only where needed!....

It was political it appears. Not the way to make crucial decisions like this one.

Despite cases nationwide being double or more what they were in April and May for a month now we haven't seen a corresponding rise in the death toll. There hasn't been a day with 1000 deaths since June 3, a far cry from the 2,000+ of late April and early May.

In other words, we have more than double the cases and less than half of the deaths. Towards the end of last week the media was breathlessly sounding the alarm about a slight uptick in deaths. Since their scare inappropriate content reports the death toll has dropped by half. That's not to say there won't be a slight uptick over the week, I understand there can be a 2-3 day reporting lag. But we aren't seeing a massive increase in deaths that would suggest things are as bad as April. In fact, the opposite is true. Despite doubling the number of cases the virus is killing less than half of what it did early in the pandemic.

What this suggests to me is that locking things down again isn't a wise move. Especially so for the young and healthy. Governors shouldn't be panicking over an increase in numbers. They shouldn't allow the media to force their hand. The virus has either weakened or doctors have a better idea how to handle these cases. Could be both. Either way, there should be no further lockdown or shutdowns.