People in Florida have to be happy that they have Republican governor Ron DeSantis at the helm during this coronavirus crisis. He managed to keep people in nursing homes safe and so far has piloted his state through the coronavirus crisis without losing too many Floridians or crushing his state’s economy. Sadly, people in New York cannot say the same about their governor, Democrat Andrew Cuomo.
Florida has close to 50,000 positive COVID-19 cases, and 2,200 deaths. New York has 361,515 positive cases and 23,391 deaths.
DeSantis posted the numbers for Florida:
For May 24, Florida reported over 41,000 test results with 997 positive tests for a statewide positivity rate of 2.5%.
Positivity rate for original Phase 1 counties: 1.98% pic.twitter.com/2P9ssPOOvF
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 25, 2020
Nursing homes in Florida
Over 20% of Floridians are seniors or one of every five people, or over 4 million Floridians. The only other state with more seniors is California, which is having the same troubles as every other state, with most of the coronavirus deaths in their nursing homes. According to the New York Post: Florida has roughly 350,000 residents and staff at more than 4,000 long-term-care facilities.
Florida seniors were safer because Governor DeSantis data from South Korea and Italy to decide how to handle seniors in Florida. The data revealed that the most vulnerable population was the elderly, particularly those over 80. So, DeSantis put measures in place to protect that population and used the state’s emergency infrastructure.
Because of frequent natural disasters, particularly hurricanes, the state has a robust emergency infrastructure including data collection. Using that system, DeSantis bolstered the nursing homes with PPE, testing, and monitoring of facilities. In the case of an outbreak in a nursing home, the infected were immediately isolated, If an HCP was infected, they were immediately sent home.
According to Click Orlando:
When a nursing home is found to have an outbreak, the state sends a health department team to work with the staff. The governor has also sent National Guard teams to nursing homes around the state to test employees and patients for the virus.
Results are in
Governor DeSantis made his own decisions about how to handle the crisis. But the mainstream media predicted doomsday for Florida and heaped opprobrium on him for putting his population at risk. In spite of the dire predictions, DeSantis forged ahead, giving counties flexibility in handling the coronavirus crisis, as most of the cases came from just three counties, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach.
Florida is in much better shape than New York. In fact, though Florida and New York have roughly the same number of people, Florida has a little more than 2,000 deaths compared to New York’s almost 25,000 deaths. And in spite of the higher number of seniors in Florida, there were far fewer deaths in Florida nursing homes than in New York.
DeSantis explained how Florida operated during the coronavirus crisis:
We basically had businesses operating. We had the daycares open, we had recreation open, and my order never actually closed any businesses. We allowed them to operate within the context of just limiting contact between people outside the household.
DeSantis had a common-sense approach to lockdowns, concerned that they hadn’t been tried before and could be harmful to his state. He explained:
One of the things that bothered me throughout this whole time was, I researched the 1918 pandemic, ’57, ’68, and there were some mitigation efforts done in May 1918, but never just a national-shutdown type deal. There was really no observed experience about what the negative impacts would be on that.”
“So I was very concerned about things on that side as well, and I think that’s why I had a more nuanced and balanced approach than some of the other governors. Because you have some of these health officials saying, ‘You’ve got to do this. This is science,’ or whatever. But really, these were unchartered territories.”
Governor DeSantis showed true leadership in looking at the data, the CDC guidelines, the models, the projections, his state’s people and needs, and made decisions that benefitted the people of Florida and largely kept them safe. We need more governors like DeSantis.
Cuomo blames President Trump for nursing home deaths
Governor Andrew Cuomo, on the other hand, didn’t make good decisions for his state, and is now blaming President Trump for the nursing home deaths in his state, which are more than double the number in Florida, saying New York was following Trump’s policy on COVID-19 and nursing homes.
But the “Trump policy” is not the president’s policy, it is the CDC guidelines. The CDC did not mandate but rather set guidelines for managing COVID-19 in nursing homes, which governors then either implemented or not. The federal government paid for COVID-19 testing and labs.
According to CDC guidelines, COVID positive patients should only be allowed in nursing homes if the home could provide isolation, and dedicated staff to tend the COVID patients exclusively, among other things. But Cuomo went beyond the guidelines when he mandated by executive order, that nursing homes could not reject COVID positive patients.
Taking the time to read the CDC guidelines for nursing homes and COVID-19 will reveal if you have ever been to a nursing home, how hard it would be to meet the guidelines for managing coronavirus patients in a nursing home. The cleaning, the personal protective equipment, and the hourly crises that happen in nursing homes rules out the possibility of meeting the CDC guidelines. Some of the recommendations, e.g. isolation units and air exchange, would require infrastructure changes to facilities, which requires time. The virus does not wait while new infrastructure is being built.
Cuomo has said repeatedly that the most vulnerable population is the elderly, and then deliberately put them at risk, by ordering that no COVID positive patient could be turned away.
So, which governor really followed the CDC guidelines? Which governor is the hero?
Watch a Fox News report on Governor DeSantis’ lifesaving decisions:
1,126 Responses
Everything is very open with a clear description of the issues. It was definitely informative. Your website is extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing!
Itís nearly impossible to find experienced people for this topic, however, you sound like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks
Good day! I just want to offer you a big thumbs up for the excellent info you have got right here on this post. I will be returning to your site for more soon.
When I initially left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there an easy method you are able to remove me from that service? Thanks!
Wow this blog is very nice!
thanks for sharing!
Usually I never comment on blogs but your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You’re doing a great job Man,Keep it up.
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is magnificent blog. A fantastic read. I’ll definitely be back.
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is excellent, as well as the content!
Everyone loves it when people get together and share ideas. Great website, keep it up!
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve truly enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
I love looking through a post that will make people think. Also, many thanks for permitting me to comment.
I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly again since exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield this increase.
Excellent post! We will be linking to this great article on our site. Keep up the great writing.
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It?s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be much more useful than ever before.
I like the valuable information you provide in your articles. I?ll bookmark your blog and check again here frequently. I am quite certain I?ll learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
I like the helpful info you provide in your articles. I will bookmark your blog and check again here frequently. I’m quite sure I?ll learn lots of new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here. The sketch is tasteful, your authored subject matter stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an impatience over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again since exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this increase.
I seriously love your website.. Pleasant colors & theme. Did you build this site yourself? Please reply back as I’m looking to create my very own website and would like to learn where you got this from or what the theme is named. Thanks!
hello there and thank you for your info ? I have definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical points using this web site, as I experienced to reload the web site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I?m adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much more of your respective intriguing content. Make sure you update this again soon..
I don?t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
Hi, I think your website could possibly be having browser compatibility issues. When I take a look at your web site in Safari, it looks fine however, if opening in I.E., it’s got some overlapping issues. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Aside from that, wonderful blog.
Hello! I simply would wish to supply a huge thumbs up for the wonderful info you might have here for this post. I am returning to your blog post for additional soon.
Everyone loves it whenever people get together and share thoughts. Great site, keep it up!
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is magnificent, let alone the content!
This is a topic which is near to my heart… Many thanks! Where can I find the contact details for questions?
It’s the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read more things about it!
After looking at a handful of the blog articles on your site, I truly appreciate your way of blogging. I book marked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my website as well and let me know how you feel.
This is really interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your magnificent post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks!
I’m amazed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s equally educative and interesting, and without a doubt, you have hit the nail on the head. The problem is something that not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy I came across this during my search for something relating to this.
Hello there! This article couldn’t be written much better! Looking through this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He constantly kept talking about this. I’ll forward this article to him. Fairly certain he’ll have a very good read. I appreciate you for sharing!
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon every day. It will always be interesting to read through articles from other writers and practice something from other web sites.
Undeniably believe that which you said. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the web the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people think about worries that they just don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
Greetings! Very useful advice within this article! It’s the little changes which will make the biggest changes. Thanks for sharing!
This is a topic that’s close to my heart… Thank you! Where are your contact details though?
Wonderful beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your web site, how could i subscribe for a blog website? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea