A lesson for Ron DeSantis from Andrew Cuomo

Perhaps Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hoped that Monday finally would bring the number to show that he has managed the COVID-19 pandemic better than any governor.

In January, Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent. Nationwide, it’s 6.2 percent. Doesn’t that vindicate the economy-first DeSantis?

Not so fast. Total jobs actually fell in January, by 800. The leisure and hospitality sector lost almost 10,000.

According to Wells Fargo, “Florida’s economic recovery took a breather in January as a sharp rise in COVID infections last fall caused consumers to pull back from economic engagement.”

Once again, cold-eyed economic analysts noted the link between public health and a healthy economy. Nevertheless, DeSantis plunged ahead, wiping out city and county fines for COVID-19 violations as the Republican-led Legislature considered banning local efforts against the pandemic.

In the last year, DeSantis has tried to control the pandemic narrative as much as the pandemic itself — sometimes more so. He’s still trying, and he’s still dismissing proven science.

DeSantis, who never has issued a statewide mask mandate, defended his action on fines by claiming that local restrictions haven’t worked. He provided no details, perhaps because all credible research rebuts that claim.

During email exchanges with readers who gush over DeSantis’ COVID-19 politics, I ask them to find the metric that makes their case. I’m still waiting.

According to the business data firm Statista, Florida’s COVID-19 case rate ranks 21st. The state’s death rate, according to Becker’s Hospital Review, ranks 23rd.

Those aren’t bad, but they’re hardly the best.

DeSantis argues that his approach saved jobs and businesses. Yet the death rate in Washington state is less than half of Florida’s, even though the first nursing home outbreak happened there. Unemployment is on par with the national average.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee followed science. State and local officials delivered the same message. University of Washington researchers estimate that if all states had acted similarly, 300,000 fewer Americans would have died.

DeSantis, however, fought with local officials from the start. The fight continues, with mayors in South Florida counties pushing back against the governor’s dictates.

Not surprisingly, those mayors are Democrats. Most Republicans at all levels followed Donald Trump’s lead in casting Democrats as overly cautious. Republicans claimed they could open up — or never close — and protect the public. Again, the numbers don’t back that up.

Of the 10 states with the highest COVID-19 death rates, five have Republican governors. Republicans lead eight of the 10 states with the highest case rates.

The GOP governor most worth emulating is probably Jim Justice of West Virginia. His state’s COVID-19 case rate ranks 10th.

Justice issued a mask mandate last June. This month, he criticized fellow Republicans who rushed to lift their mandates.

Florida could have done much better. We are more affluent than West Virginia and have much better medical facilities. Restaurants can offer expanded outdoor dining during the winter, and people don’t have to be inside.

Yet DeSantis is strutting. He wants to demolish any local resistance. He triumphed at the recent Conservative (Cultist) Political Action Conference. No governor, though, should strut over COVID19.

Look at Andrew Cuomo, who once promoted himself as the top pandemic governor.

Last April, New York’s governor had a 71 percent approval rating. Then CNN foolishly allowed host Chris Cuomo to interview his brother. Andrew Cuomo foolishly wrote a book on “leadership lessons” from the pandemic.

Most foolishly, Cuomo lied about COVID-19 deaths among nursing home patients, hoping to cover up a policy mistake. That proven lie alone justifies his resignation.

Throughout the pandemic, DeSantis has been slow to release key statistics — such as on hospitalizations — that might damage his narrative. More recently, he’s been caught fibbing about his role in popup vaccination sites.

No public health metric supports the DeSantis narrative about pandemic management superiority. But he keeps an eye on the number that seems to matter most: votes.