State health dept. official resigns
With the pandemic worsening in Florida, the person in charge of remindingresidents towe ara mask and stay six feet apart has abruptly resigned.
Alberto Moscoso, thechief public information officer for the Florida Department of Health throughout the pandemic, bowed out Nov. 6 amid a reshuffling of personnel at the state agency. Hewould not elaborate on why he left, or where he was going.
In a statement, Fred Piccolo, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis, did not provide a specific reason for why Moscoso resigned. Piccolo said that Moscoso will be moving to a new position in state government. Neither Moscoso nor Piccolo could saywhat thatwas.
“That’s a tough gig. DOH.” Piccolo said, via text. “I just think he did his part and wants to go home at 5 and put his phone down.”
The departure of the long time former Army aviator and helicopter pilot who ran communications for the department since 2019 comes amid a shift in health messaging in Florida about Covid-19.
All messaging has been ordered to go through the governor’s office for approval, according to two state health department employees with knowledge of the matter.
Florida Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, who holds the top job in the health department, appointed Moscoso to his leadership team in October 2019. But Rivkees has been publicly sidelined and has not appeared with DeSantis at press conferences in about five months.
Along with Moscoso’s departure, the Department of Health internally announced leadership changes including a new deputy secretary for county health systems and assistant deputy secretary for county health systems.
On Monday, Nina Levine, the press secretary for the department of health, told local county publicnot to speak with reporters about the surge in their counties and instead wait for a press release to come from Tallahassee.
Piccolo said Jason Ma hon, who is overseeing communications for the state’s joint information center, will take over the position of communications director for the Florida Department of Health on a temporary basis throughthe endof the year.