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
I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog that’s both equally educative and interesting, and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The problem is something which not enough folks are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy that I found this during my search for something relating to this.
There is definately a great deal to find out about this issue. I like all the points you’ve made.
I must get across my love for your generosity supporting those people that must have help with in this topic. Your special dedication to getting the message all around had become particularly helpful and have consistently encouraged employees just like me to reach their desired goals. Your own interesting facts denotes much a person like me and much more to my mates. Warm regards; from everyone of us.
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve visited this website before but after looking at many of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back often!
Hi there, just became alert to your weblog through Google, and found that it is really informative. I am going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you proceed this in future. Many folks shall be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
Wonderful article! We will be linking to this particularly great post on our website. Keep up the good writing.
I’ll immediately grab your rss feed as I can’t find your e-mail subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
I must thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this site. I am hoping to see the same high-grade content by you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own, personal website now 😉
I like this web site so much, saved to bookmarks. “To hold a pen is to be at war.” by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire.
Thanks for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research on this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such wonderful information being shared freely out there.
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a doubt donate to this outstanding blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will talk about this blog with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
This is a topic which is near to my heart… Thank you! Exactly where are your contact details though?
Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thank you so much, However I am going through problems with your RSS. I don’t know why I can’t join it. Is there anyone else having identical RSS problems? Anyone that knows the solution can you kindly respond? Thanx!!
Hi, I do think this is an excellent site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I will revisit yet again since I bookmarked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide others.
I’m impressed, I have to admit. Seldom do I come across a blog that’s both educative and interesting, and without a doubt, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something that not enough people are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy that I came across this in my hunt for something regarding this.
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
I do accept as true with all the ideas you’ve presented on your post. They are really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too short for novices. May just you please lengthen them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
I precisely needed to appreciate you yet again. I’m not certain what I could possibly have followed without the points shared by you directly on this theme. Entirely was a very depressing dilemma in my circumstances, but discovering this skilled approach you handled that took me to jump over delight. Extremely thankful for the advice and even expect you know what a powerful job you happen to be getting into educating people today through the use of a web site. I am certain you’ve never come across all of us.
Awsome blog! I am loving it!! Will be back later to read some more. I am bookmarking your feeds also
I absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for. can you offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs? I wouldn’t mind writing a post or elaborating on some of the subjects you write concerning here. Again, awesome website!
Hello very nice blog!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Superb .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds additionally¡KI am satisfied to search out so many helpful information right here in the put up, we’d like work out more strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
Wow, awesome blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is wonderful, let alone the content!
After looking into a few of the articles on your website, I seriously like your way of blogging. I saved it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Please visit my web site as well and tell me how you feel.
Social networking for NDT technicians
OFWMONEY -Growth Tactics
Good day very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I will bookmark your web site and take the feeds also…I’m glad to seek out so many useful info here within the publish, we’d like develop more techniques on this regard, thanks for sharing.
Hi! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Wonderful blog and excellent design.
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I do not know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
Definitely, what a splendid blog and educative posts, I will bookmark your site.All the Best!
Greetings from Idaho! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I really like the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my mobile .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, good site!
I appreciate you sharing this article post.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
I’m really loving the theme/design of your web site. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility problems? A handful of my blog visitors have complained about my website not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out a lot. I hope to give something back and aid others like you aided me.
My spouse and I absolutely love your blog and find nearly all of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Does one offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs? I wouldn’t mind composing a post or elaborating on a lot of the subjects you write concerning here. Again, awesome weblog!
High DA PA SEO Backlinks – Boost Your Website Ranking
I just couldn’t depart your website prior to suggesting that I actually enjoyed the usual information an individual provide on your guests? Is going to be back ceaselessly to check up on new posts
I appreciate, cause I found just what I was looking for. You have ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye