Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) held nothing back in his criticisms for the members of the media on Wednesday for predicting nothing but gloom and doom because of his state's handling of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
Many in the media warned Florida was reopening parts of the state too quickly and it would lead to a higher number of coronavirus cases and deaths. Speaking to reporters with Vice President Mike Pence, DeSantis said Florida was able to prove the harsh predictions and criticisms wrong.
"You've got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like New York. 'Wait two weeks, Florida's going to be next, just like Italy, wait two weeks.' Well hell, we're eight weeks from that and it hasn't happened," DeSantis said.
He pointed to how the state has a lower COVID-19 death rate compared to Washington, D.C., New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Indiana. This was despite many New Yorkers fleeing the city and state and heading to Florida.
"So we’ve succeeded and I think that people just don’t want to recognize it because it challenges their narrative, it challenges their assumption, so they have to try and find a boogeyman," he added.
According to the Florida Department of Health, the state has a total of 47,471 positive COVID-19 cases, with 2,096 deaths. The state received criticisms after a worker for the state claimed she was fired for putting in false COVID-19 numbers in the database, with DeSantis saying her claims were not true.
In contrast, New York has a total of 354,370 positive coronavirus cases with 22, 976 deaths, according to their department of health.
DeSantis says any insinuation Florida doesn't have best data is typical partisan narrative.
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) May 20, 2020
"You've got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like NY."https://t.co/jTzJmKk8X0 pic.twitter.com/1sGw3Z1P3V
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