DeSantis, Florida’s mis-communicator in chief

Putting the best possible spin on it, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a terrible communicator.

Put more clearly, DeSantis is failing our state by hiding information, dodging questions, playing politics and downplaying the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has escalated its deadly march across Florida.

Consider:

The Sun Sentinel reported this week that in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, an unexplained gap appeared in Florida’s coronavirus death count, one that presented a more favorable picture. Like President Trump, DeSantis began questioning the death toll in October. As an example, he says the number includes a COVID-infected motorcyclist who died in a crash. The medical examiner who reviewed the motorcyclist’s case says the governor is wrong about that.

DeSantis refuses to say who is performing his ordered recount of COVID-19 deaths, but in November, Ohio sports blogger Kyle Lamb, who believes the death count is a conspiracy, said he was hired to analyze Florida cases. The governor’s office also gave a conservative blogger, Jennifer Cabrera, exclusive access to COVID-19 death certificates for an article that claims Florida’s death count is exaggerated.

DeSantis refuses to talk to South

Florida mayors who want to enforce mask mandates, penalize businesses that pack in customers, and expand testing and contact tracing. Unlike former Gov. Rick Scott, mayors tell us that DeSantis has never convened a conference call with them. DeSantis also has ignored letters from Florida members of Congress — both Democrats and Republicans — who seek information about the pandemic.

DeSantis has hidden the warnings of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which says Florida must do more to slow the pandemic’s second surge, such as wearing masks and closing indoor spaces at bars and restaurants. He released some past reports last week, but only after this newspaper and the Orlando Sentinel filed suit.

DeSantis effectively communicates what he won’t do to stop the spread of COVID-19 — no face mask order, no limits on indoor dining, no closing schools, no penalties for businesses that let people closely congregate — but he has yet to say what he will do. Public health experts trace the start of Florida’s skyrocketing case count to his Sept. 25 order that prohibits local governments from enforcing local public health orders.

DeSantis has hosted public discussions with contrarian doctors who oppose lockdowns and mask-wearing, and embrace the idea of “herd immunity” — of letting the coronavirus spread rapidly among supposedly less vulnerable people, while supposedly isolating the most vulnerable. If DeSantis has done anything to isolate the most vulnerable in support of this strategy, he’s kept that hidden, too.

DeSantis has walked out of press conferences without taking questions and ducked out of the Legislature’s swearing-in ceremony to avoid waiting reporters. He remained so quiet for weeks after the election that people questioned whether he was in quarantine with the coronavirus. On the rare occasions when he does take questions, things can go off the rails quickly, as in Tampa last week when a reporter used the word “raid” to describe armed state agents serving a search warrant on the home of a fired Florida Department of Health analyst. DeSantis accused his questioner of

“editorializing,” abruptly ended the press conference and stormed out of the room. His outburst overshadowed some positive news: the arrival of $23 million in federal CARES Act money for much-needed mental health and substance abuse services.

DeSantis began his post-election silence after appearing on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show, where he urged citizens to lobby lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Michigan to override the election results and declare Donald Trump the winner, a recklessly divisive action that both states rejected. When Florida reporters sought an explanation, the governor buttoned up. His spokesman said DeSantis wasn’t hiding from the media, simply taking a few weeks away from the press to focus on getting the vaccine to Florida.

When Florida’s Pfizer vaccine shipment came up short, DeSantis suggested that one dose of the two-dose vaccine could be enough, an idea he got from a Wall Street Journal op- ed. A New England Journal of Medicine report says the vaccine’s efficacy is 52% after one dose, 95% after the second. Given public distrust about the vaccine, the governor’s one-dose suggestion was akin to Trump’s suggestion that bleach might be effective against COVID-19. Irresponsible.

Never have we heard DeSantis admit a mistake. Rarely have we heard him express empathy for those who’ve been infected, placed on a ventilator or died. He talks in terms of numbers, not people — people with real names like Christine and Earl, Doris and Stuart, Adrian and Shannon, Thom and Jose, and tomorrow, perhaps your name, too.

DeSantis has bragged about Florida’s death toll being lower than other states. With more than 20,400 of our neighbors dead from the coronavirus, our governor has nothing to brag about.

Finally, DeSantis has refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the presidential election. When asked Monday if he accepted the Electoral College’s certified results, he said, “It’s not for me to do.” On Tuesday, he lamented that Florida is no longer a phone call away from getting what it needs.

DeSantis fails to grasp that communication is a two-way street. Perhaps Florida would keep its place in line if he would pick up the phone and congratulate the president-elect. For just as Biden has said he will be president for all Americans, DeSantis is supposed to be governor for all Floridians. We need a working relationship with the White House.

This week, Florida posted case numbers not seen since the pandemic’s peak in mid-July. Hospitalizations are rising, along with the test positivity rate. It’s time to stop downplaying the severity.

It used to be tradition for Florida’s governor to hold an end-of-year roundtable discussion with the media, to review the preceding 12 months and anticipate the future. After this sad and stressful year, DeSantis should restore this tradition and talk to us straight.

For despite what’s been said, no journalist we know delights in reporting the escalating case count and the deaths of Meryl and Frank, Elfriede and Dennard, Joyce and Ralph, James and Ron, Robert and Alice, and perhaps tomorrow, your name, too.

Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Dan Sweeney, Steve Bousquet and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.