MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle Confronts Biden Adviser: California is in Lockdown ‘And Their Numbers Aren’t that Different from Florida’

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle confronted senior White House adviser Andy Slavitt on Wednesday over the efficacy of lockdown measures in battling Covid-19, noting that Florida and California had experienced similar outcomes despite taking divergent approaches.

“Contrast states like Florida and California, California basically in lockdown, and their numbers aren’t that different from Florida,” Ruhle noted in an interview with Slavitt after a report about declining hospitalization rates related to the pandemic in both states.

Slavitt didn’t address the issue, but called for measures like those in California to continue around the country. “Look, there’s so much of this virus that we think we understand, that we think we can predict, it’s just a little beyond our explanation,” he said. “What we do know is the more careful people are, the more they mask and social distance, the quicker we vaccinate, the quicker it goes away and the less it spreads. But we have got to get better visibility into variants and what role they play, large events, etcetera. But as we learned, this is a virus that continues to surprise us.”

“It’s very hard to predict,” he added.

California reported 56 hospitalizations related to the virus per 100,000 residents in January compared to 35 per 100,000 in Florida. Those numbers fell to 24 and 22, respectively, in February. While California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) imposed measures including mandatory stay-at-home orders — which were lifted at the end of January — and a mask mandate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has made headlines for declining to issue similar rules.

Watch above via MSNBC.