Secrecy and spin used to mislead public: probe
Florida’s governor suppressed deadly facts on COVID
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis in Florida, Gov. Ron Desantis’ administration engaged in a pattern of spin and concealment that misled the public on the gravest health threat the state has ever faced, a South Florida Sun Sentinel investigation has found.
Desantis, a Republican who owes his job to early support from President Donald Trump, imposed an approach in line with the views of the president and his powerful base of supporters. The administration suppressed unfavorable facts, dispensed dangerous misinformation, dismissed public health professionals, and promoted the views of scientific dissenters who supported the governor’s approach to the disease.
The Desantis administration’s approach to managing COVID-19 information carries costs. It supports a climate in which people proudly disdain masks, engage in dangerous group activities that could spread the disease, and brush aside information that conflicts with their political views. With partygoers packing Florida bars and holiday travelers filling hotels and guest rooms, the state faces a few difficult months before the possible relief of vaccines.
These findings are based on interviews with more than 50 people, including scientists, doctors, political leaders, employees of the state health department, and other state officials, as well as more than 4,000 pages of documents.
■ The Florida Department of Health’s countylevel spokespeople were ordered in September to stop issuing public statements about COVID-19 until after the Nov. 3 election.
■ The Desantis administration refused to reveal details about the first suspected cases in Florida, then denied the virus was spreading from person to person - despite mounting evidence that it was.
■ State officials withheld information about infections in schools, prisons, hospitals and nursing homes, relenting only under pressure or legal action from family members, advocacy groups and journalists.
■ The Desantis administration brushed aside scientists and doctors who advocated conventional approaches to fighting the virus, preferring scientists on the fringes who backed the governor’s positions.
■ The governor’s spokesman regularly takes to Twitter to spread misinformation about the disease, including the false claim that COVID was less deadly than the flu.
■ The governor highlighted statistics that would paint the rosiest picture possible and attempted to cast doubt on the validity of Florida’s rising death toll.
“The governor is a smart, educated guy,” said Thomas Unnasch, codirector of the Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease Research at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “But he also is a politically savvy guy. He is encouraging people who are of the opinion that the virus is not as severe and profound as others say it is and putting politics before science.”
Desantis has a difficult balance to strike, having to weigh the need to fight the disease against the profound harm to society of shutting down parts of the state’s economy.
Desantis would not be interviewed for this article, but on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Wednesday, he called the media’s criticism of his approach “all political.”
Fred Piccolo Jr., the governor’s spokesman, said Desantis has not been trying to spin anything, just stick with a consistent, facts-based message that would accomplish the most in saving lives.
“The governor has been consistent since the beginning of the pandemic,” he said. “Wash hands, maintain social distance, wear a mask, etcetera. But he’s also adapted to the data as it becomes available.
“He acted quickly to save thousands of nursing home residents. He knew of drugs in the pipeline and was ready to act for Florida when he knew they were coming online.
He’s been consistent even as the pandemic has become political.”
Piccolo didn’t respond to questions on why the administration shut out mainstream scientists, or denied person-to-person spread was taking place or resisted the release of COVID-19 information on nursing homes, schools and prisons.
In the last week of September, as the presidential election neared, word went out to the state employees who served as county-level spokespeople for the Florida Department of Health: Talk about anything but COVID-19.
Don’t issue news releases or write social media posts about COVID-19, they were told, according to three health department county spokespeople who asked not to be identified. Instead, talk about flu shots, hearing-loss screenings — anything but the virus.
“It is all part of the top-down control of messaging from the governor’s office,” said a senior official in the health department.
The order came from Alberto Moscoso, communications director for the state health department. It’s unclear who told Moscoso to issue the order. He left the department on Nov. 6 and declined comment for this report.
During the presidential election campaign, Trump quipped that he would “fire” Desantis if he lost Florida. Desantis worked hard to help him win the state’s 29 electoral votes, praising Trump at news conferences and attending the president’s rallies where the maskless governor was photographed high-fiving the crowd.
The attempt to deflect attention from negative news is called “blue sky” messaging, and that’s how it was described to local health representatives, according to three health department spokespeople.
“Nothing gets approved without it passing through the governor’s office,” said one county health department spokesperson. “If it’s not blue sky, then it’s held up or we’re told to hold off and it never gets approved.”
On Sept. 24, after months of Facebook and Twitter posts about COVID-19 safety, the health department stopped posting anything on social media about the disease, a blackout that lasted through November. The department did, however, continue to run prepaid COVID-19 public health ads on Facebook urging handwashing, masks and social distancing.
In the week before Election Day, as case counts climbed, the health department posted on Twitter and Facebook about flu vaccinations, the prevention of carbon monoxide poisoning and lead poisoning detection. Nothing about COVID-19.
Fred Piccolo, the governor’s spokesman, defended the changes in Florida’s pandemic health messaging in the run-up to the election and beyond.
“As Pew Research showed, the messaging on prevention and COVID-19 has reached saturation,” Piccolo said. “People are doing all they can to mitigate risk.“
That nationwide poll, however, made no mention of COVID-19 prevention messaging, instead asking respondents only if they’d worn a mask in the past month.
Dr. Dominique Brossard, chairwoman of the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, said that inconsistent messaging can have real-world impacts on human health.
As the disease spread through Florida, state agencies refused to release information about how many people were sick at nursing homes, prisons, hospitals or schools.
And instead of taking precautions, many in Florida party on.
At the Wharf bar and restaurant complex in Fort Lauderdale, hundreds of maskless partiers packed the place to drink, dance and talk on a recent Saturday night.
“It’s hard to drink with a mask on,” one partier said. “There’s no such thing as COVID in South Florida,” said another.