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TALLAHASSEE – The alert system put in place by state emergency managers to send Floridians urgent text messages about public health and safety was activated on Wednesday, but it was not an emergency.
It was used to deliver a three-minute video message from Governor Ron DeSantis that echoed what Floridians had previously learned from press reports – that vaccines and therapeutics were headed to hospitals in Florida within weeks.
Recording from his office in the Capitol, DeSantis admitted that the first doses of therapeutic drugs and vaccines will need to be rationed but, as he has been doing for weeks, he gave no explanation as to who decides who gets the first ones. doses and what are the criteria. used.
This is the second time in two weeks that DeSantis, which has practically disappeared from public view since the election, has chosen to bypass reporters’ questions and instead emit a video message which is broadcast on social media and also distributed by the state emergency operations alert system. like its messaging platform.
Last week, he produced a five-minute video in which he touted the vaccines as “possibly the greatest rays of hope” for containing the virus, and said the state would not force Floridians to take them. get. He offered no details.
This week’s video post came after several news agencies wrote about what Politico has dubbed “DeSantis’ post-election disappearance act.” Reports detailed how the governor vanished after President Donald Trump’s defeat, in stark contrast to how he spent months before the election crisscrossing the state, pushing to reopen business, downplaying the summer spike in cases of COVID, echoing the White House coronavirus message and even amplifying questionable theories of herd immunity.
Two days after the election, DeSantis ran Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle, where he urged Trump to “fight” and urged state legislatures to take matters into their own hands. He then emerged for a brief interview on The Weather Channel before Tropical Storm Eta approached.
And last week, DeSantis was briefly introduced to State House and the Senate while attending the organizational session of the Florida Legislature. But instead of answering questions, the governor quietly slipped into a back hallway and hopped on a plane to Washington, DC, where, according to his schedule, he met with White House health officials. .
Asked this week by the Sarasota Herald Tribune whether DeSantis ‘reluctance to attend public events was designed to avoid answering reporters’ questions about Trump’s failed efforts to challenge election results in key states, the chief state officer DeSantis communication, Fred Piccolo, said, “I think that’s as good a guess as any.
The strategy drew predictable complaints from Democrats.
“More videos, eh?” State Representative Anna Eskamani of Orlando said on Twitter on Wednesday. “Do you have any ideas on hosting a press conference so reporters can ask questions and the public can have more information on Florida’s handling of the # COVID19 pandemic?”
By recording a one-sided message, DeSantis avoids answering lingering questions that have grown over the past month about how officials are handling the nationwide distribution of vaccines and therapeutics.
He did not respond to demands from a bipartisan group of mayors urging him to impose a statewide mask mandate, increase the state testing effort and restore power. local governments to impose restrictions on coronaviruses.
He did not explain why he endorsed the policies of Trump’s controversial health adviser Scott Atlas, who endorses the community spread of the virus while protecting the elderly. And, as cases in Florida continue to rise, DeSantis has not explained why cases in long-term care facilities are also on the rise, even though they are supposed to be the state’s top priority.
“As we eagerly await the vaccine, I think it’s important to double the protection for our most vulnerable people, especially our vulnerable seniors in long-term care facilities,” DeSantis said in the video. “If we can redouble our efforts to protect the most vulnerable until the vaccine is deployed, we will help protect the lives of thousands of Floridians.”
COVID cases continue to rise
The state has opened long-term care facilities to visitors under certain conditions and, according to the governor, has “set aside 500,000 additional rapid tests” so that “in the coming weeks, all long-term care facilities duration are able to test all staff, visitors and contractors. “
But last week, the Agency for Healthcare Administration reported that things are not improving in long-term care facilities, but in fact remain stable with 1,480 residents testing positive at 23 November and 2,033 employees. The protocols for staff and resident screening and visitor screening have not changed.
Meanwhile, the number of cases among people over 65 in the community has increased, with a 68% increase in the past two weeks, according to Jason Salemi, biostatistician and professor at the University of South Florida. in Tampa.
DeSantis reiterated the predictions of public health professionals that after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration met on December 10 to certify the first COVID-19 vaccines, distribution should begin immediately.
The first round will be enough to inoculate 20 million Americans, DeSantis said, but he wouldn’t say how many of those Florida will receive.
“Obviously, this will not be enough to get everyone vaccinated from the start, but priorities will be set,” he said. “In Florida, we will prioritize, focusing specifically on the most vulnerable elderly residents of long-term care facilities, as well as our frontline health workers who interact with vulnerable patients day in and day out as they go. as new vaccines become available. . “
But who decides and what criteria will the state use?
A draft vaccine distribution report released in October by the Florida Department of Health identified 223,000 employees and 145,000 residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, as well as 497,000 licensed healthcare professionals in the U.S. State who would be eligible for the vaccine if they agreed to take it.
The Florida Department of Health has asked nursing homes and other senior care facilities to register to administer the vaccine and the federal government has contracted with CVS and Walgreens to immediately provide immunization clinics. on the spot.
Always waiting for vital details
For more than a month, the agency has been questioned and has not answered how it would persuade healthcare professionals and reluctant residents to take the vaccine, and the governor has not developed any messaging strategy to inform people about the potential side effects involved.
DeSantis used the video to repeat reports that hospitals in Florida have started receiving treatment with Bamlanivimab monoclonal antibody to prevent hospitalizations in COVID patients if it is given early in their infection. And he noted that hospitals were also receiving an antibody drug developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, the drug Trump used to help his immune system fight COVID-19.
But how much treatment the state will get and who will decide are just some of the questions Miami herald and Tampa bay times asked the governor and public health officials last month, and received no response.
Among our questions and requests for public records:
▪ Did the Florida Department of Health keep minutes or tapes of vaccine working group meetings?
▪ Please provide a copy of the survey conducted with hospitals, pharmacies, community health services and emergency medical personnel on vaccine distribution needs.
▪ Does the state have a vaccine distribution plan for inmates and prison staff?
▪ Which hospitals in Florida have you identified that have ultra-cold storage that Pfizer needs?
▪ What criteria are used to decide which hospitals and which populations are selected for the first doses of vaccine?
▪ How many “essential workers” has the DOH identified as part of the phase 2 immunization distribution? Who decides who gets it?
▪ The draft vaccination distribution plan indicates that the GIS mapping is underway to “identify areas where it is necessary to recruit additional providers”. Please provide a copy of this map.
The problem is complicated by the fact that the governor’s chief of staff, Shane Strum, surprised many when he demoted the former head of information at the Department of Health in October and did not appoint a replacement. .
Meanwhile, DeSantis’ use of video messaging and its disappearance from public view in the face of media scrutiny is not a new tactic for governors.
In Kentucky, former Gov. Matt Bevin routinely shut out the state’s mainstream media, refusing to answer reporters’ questions and instead used social media and radio interviews to bypass questions. Bevin lost a short reelection offer last year.
In Florida, former Governor Rick Scott routinely bypassed media questions, offered vague and incomplete answers, and erected barriers to transparency. But, unlike Bevin, Scott was not only re-elected, he was elevated to the US Senate, also on a restricted vote.
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