For two weeks the state of Florida, and South Florida in particular, have been one of the epicenters of the COVID crisis, and for two weeks DeSantis has failed to keep the public aware of the numbers of people hospitalized. DeSantis released the numbers yesterday only after facing immense pressure from citizens and the media. They are terribly foreboding. We also should note that DeSantis is perhaps the “Trumpiest” governor in the United States.

Our friends at the essential Rawstory have the quotes:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finally caved in to pressure to release the actual numbers of coronavirus cases in the state’s hospitals.

Until Friday, DeSantis had refused to reveal the true numbers, leaving many in the state unaware of just how bad the cases were. According to the Orlando Sentinel, a whopping 7,000 Floridians are in hospitals hoping they survive the virus.

Seven thousand in Florida alone, and 1500 in Miami? And yet he hid these numbers? At some point, someone is going to need to evaluate whether the lies, intentionally suppressing information and giving a false narrative, could be considered negligent homicide. It really does need to be considered at this point, even though it won’t likely happen, not under this administration at the federal level, or DeSantis’s administration at the state level.

Until now, Florida has been one of only three states hiding the truth about the COVID-19 hospitalizations from the public. DeSantis has been criticized for refusing to release the data, which researchers and epidemiologists have said is important for their calculations in measuring the spread of the disease.

How is “hiding the data” justified in any way except to conceal the horrible truth from the public? And what would be the motivation to conceal the truth? It is presumably economic and political.

And then Trump was there to make it even worse.

President Donald Trump, who was in Miami-Dade County Friday afternoon, has celebrated the COVID-19 cases, saying that the death rate is going down and all is well. In fact, the death rates are beginning to increase.

Very cold comfort to those who have had to suffer and die. Moreover, we are increasingly hearing about secondary effects of the virus, including organ damage and severe depression, from people who lived! Now Trump says that the lower death rate is a good thing. Not if the numbers are higher because more people are getting it.

Terrible.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom