Don’t like the real virus experts? Ignore them or find ‘experts.’

Florida is competing with the Trump administration for a monopoly on COVID-19 ignorance.

On Friday, the Florida High School Athletics Association voted to go full speed ahead on fall sports. Practices, the FHSAA board decided, can begin next week, even as college conferences delay football and cancel fall championships.

The FHSAA had formed a committee of public health experts to provide guidance. “Until this virus is given the respect it deserves to quiet down, introducing sports adds fuel to the fire,” said Jennifer Maynard. She led the committee. She works for the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, one of the world’s most respected medical organizations.

So much for that. But why would the FHSAA listen to an expert when Gov. DeSantis seems more passionate about playing the Florida-Florida State game than developing a contact tracing system to control outbreaks?

Speaking of the state’s higher education system, the Palm Beach Post reported Sunday that Florida Atlantic University has been promoting a nonscientist as a COVID-19 expert.

According to FAU’s website, Rebel Cole is the “Lynn Eminent Scholar Chaired Professor of Finance.” His areas of expertise are “Small Business Finance, Financial Institutions, Commercial Banking and Corporate Governance.” He has worked for the Federal Reserve and advised the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

It’s an impressive resume. But did you see any experience in public health or epidemiology? Me neither. That hasn’t stopped Cole from calling pandemic reporting “a false narrative” and touting hydroxoychloroquine for COVID-19 patients.

Reminder: The Food and Drug Administration has rescinded the emergency authorization it granted for hydroxychloroquine. Doctors use it to treat malaria and lupus. The FDA now warns against using the drug on COVID-19 patients.

All of Cole’s social media musings on school reopenings and other virusrelated subjects also align with those of DeSantis and President Trump. Yet, as the Post reported, even the Florida Department of Health reports rebut Cole. FAU colleagues and other South Florida academics who actually work in public health say that his comments lack credibility.

“[Cole] is underplaying what is going on and pushing a narrative that will engender more distrust of the data and public health,” Dr. Terry Adirim, chair of FAU’s Department of Integrated Biomedical Science, told the Post.

On a similar note, Trump has added to the laughably named coronavirus task force one Scott Atlas. He’s a medical doctor, but not one with any background in public health. He is the Robert Wesson Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a right-leaning think tank.

Stanford’s website says Atlas “investigates the impact of government and the private sector on access, quality and pricing in health care, global trends in health care innovation and key economic issues related to the future of technology-based medical advances.” Those are neat topics. Not one has to do with public health or infectious diseases.

Atlas, though, has other “qualifications.” He wants schools to reopen fully. Now. He claims that children are at

“zero risk” from COVID-19. Tell that to the parents of children in Florida who have died from the disease.

At every turn in this pandemic,

Trump mostly has ignored American public health experts. He placed his entitled flyweight of a son-in-law, Jared Kusher, in charge of testing. He named Vice President Mike Pence to lead the response. Pence claimed in late April that the effects of the virus would be “largely behind us” after Memorial Day.

Trump and DeSantis still don’t understand that the virus always has other plans. On Monday, after outbreaks in dorms and a fraternity house, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill switched from in-person classes to distance learning.

University officials hated to do it. Florida superintendents and school board members hate the idea of more distance learning. Until the state and country contain the virus, however, school reopenings and the economy will remain in low gear.

Even countries that mounted the best response to the pandemic continue to see challenges. That’s because the virus is relentless.

On Monday, DeSantis celebrated because new cases were below 3,000. At the time, however, cases soared among Martin County students whom DeSantis wanted back on campus.

Not to worry. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran advised districts to phone his department for guidance on responding to outbreaks. Maybe Rebel Cole or Steve Atlas will take the call.

Randy Schultz