NY Times, LA Times, Axios Admit DeSantis Might Deserve Credit for Handling Covid
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Media outlets are beginning to wonder whether Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) handling of Covid-19 could make him a formidable leader in his party coming out of the pandemic.
DeSantis “is garnering praise in some conservative circles,” the Los Angeles Times noted in a March 8 story, even as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) faces “a potential recall over his handling of the crisis.” The paper also acknowledged that the contrast between the two states “has caught the eye of some public health experts.”
“One might’ve expected that the Floridas of the world would’ve done tremendously worse than the Californias of the world, and they did worse, but modestly worse, and there’s something to be learned there,” the University of California’s Dr. Robert Wachter told the publication.
The New York Times followed the LA Times’ lead in a March 13 story, titled, “I’d much rather be in Florida.”
“People here, they’ve been able to work,” 34-year-old Democratic Florida voter Patricia Garcia told the paper. “The kids have been able to go to school. We have this reputation in Florida of being all Florida Man and crazyland. But I’d much rather be in Florida than California, New York, or Chicago.”
The paper’s Lisa Lerer observed a week earlier that DeSantis was trashing another Democratic governor, New York’s Andrew Cuomo, in the realm of public opinion — despite media hoping for a much different outcome as recently as last year.
“Cuomo was a Democratic darling, heralded for his handling of the virus in a state that was hit hard by the pandemic,” Lerer wrote. “Celebrities declared themselves ‘Cuomosexuals,’ his daily briefings became must-see TV and political wags murmured about a presidential bid. The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded him an Emmy for his 111 “masterful” coronavirus briefings. He published a memoir about his leadership, taking a victory lap with the race far from over.
Today, Lerer noted, “Cuomo has fallen from his perch as a liberal icon. “DeSantis has ascended to conservative stardom.”
Axios joined the fray on Monday. “After a solid year of living with a pandemic, the national press is beginning to ask the question that even Democrats have been quietly pondering in the Sunshine State: Was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ pandemic response right for Florida?” the publication’s Ben Montgomery and Selene San Felice noted in a story about the media’s new response to DeSantis.
Still, the authors suggested they weren’t very happy about it, saying that DeSantis had traded “death” for commerce. “We’ve long known that the state’s pro-business Republican leadership was making a sort of grand bargain,” the duo wrote. “The death toll was the price paid for keeping commerce flowing and keeping kids in school.”
Florida has experienced 9,204 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 150 deaths per 100,000 residents since the pandemic began, according to a count maintained by The New York Times. Those figures stand at 9,169 and 143 in California. In New York, the numbers are 8,953 and 249.
