Florida Gets Full Stock of Medical Supplies, Media Barfs

The media continues to vomit all over what’s left of their shredded credibility, criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for doing too little for weeks now because he did not panic and shutdown the state, and now casting nasty aspersions at him for, somehow preparing too well.

The Florida media has harped incessantly that DeSantis is dawdling in not shutting down the state a la New York, California and others. Actually, he’s continuing to navigate the uncharted seas of requiring the closing of businesses and minimizing the infringement on both liberties and the workers who do not have to stay home — such as those in construction.

But now we find that DeSantis has been very aggressive and successful in getting most or all of the medical supplies it appears the state will need for the outbreak. And guess what? Shock of shockers, the media is again hammering him, apparently for being so successful.

In addition to being a Republican, DeSantis is a close ally of President Trump. That alone makes him open season for the Democrat media hounds. But he also seems to be taking a similar tack on handling the disease as the President, not leaping forward too far until the data requires it — if it requires it.

But DeSantis is also like Trump in that he has been successful in his first year and a half as Governor of Florida, getting through a range of issues that the Democrat media hate.

Along these lines, he was quick to order a thorough assessment of the state’s medical needs to deal with COVID-19 and an upcoming hurricane season. Florida requested substantial supplies through Direct Federal Assistance, making a strong case for these needs. It appears as though the state is getting everything it asked for, being stored in a giant, converted warehouse in the centralized city of Orlando, from which the supplies are being distributed throughout the state 24 hours per day.

150,000 Personal Protective Equipment kits, including coveralls, gowns, and goggles

In addition, DeSantis and team managed to obtain significant medical supplies from private vendors. They were so successful, infact, that the federal government stepped in and diverted some of those supplies to New York City, whose governor and mayor had not been as successful as DeSantis with the private sector.

(Now however, it appears that some of those private contracts are unfulfilled as distributors from companies such as 3M are profiteering by getting states to bid against each other, or simply not delivering. Florida’s Emergency Management Director called it “chasing ghosts.” There will be a price to pay for that.)

Overall, this all is pretty good news for Floridians, as it suggests the state’s hospitals may not get overwhelmed, despite our large elderly population. Newspapers keep reporting worst-case scenarios and then talking to a nurse somewhere fishing for a quote about how bad it is or could get. But these stories, and model projections that have been shown to be unreliable, frequently don’t comport with underlying actual hard data from the state — such as above.

The Democrat media machine was unable to accept even the blatantly good news that Florida is getting what it asked for from the feds, and spun around to make unsubstantiated insinuations.

This Orlando Weekly headline was one of several I saw around the state, all the same. Headline: “Why did Florida get all the emergency supplies it requested when other states didn’t?” This reporter went so far as to call a hospital in Oklahoma, a state that has received less than requested, to fish for a comment from a nurse saying she was upset because they might not be able to care for their patients. (They will.)

This is the perfect spin because they can malign both President Trump and DeSantis at the same time — the two most hated political figures for the Florida media.

Imagine what these same “reporters” — Democrat operatives with a media platform — would be writing if DeSantis actually failed and got only a fraction of his request and the state was dangerously low on medical supplies. It takes literally no imagination.

Bias partisanship and sensationalism is a toxic combo to media credibility. It’s just not clear they really care anymore.

Meanwhile this out of the reno gazette journal about how awesome our gov and state admins are and how incompetent the Trump admin is. What a joke. Butt, libs:

This opinion piece was submitted by RGJ columnist Edwin Lyngar, a Reno resident and freelance writer.

I can’t imagine Gov. Steve Sisolak’s face the moment he realized he had to close the Las Vegas Strip, Nevada’s economic engine. At the time, only a handful of states had any statewide business closures, but the governor took the courageous step of closing Nevada early in the pandemic. A week later, Sisolak turned to medical experts to refute Donald Trump’s unfounded, unscientific boosting of various, untested medical treatments for the virus, setting off new rounds of partisan attacks, including from Senator Ted Cruz. At every step Nevada’s governor has leaned on scientific evidence and expertise to fill the leadership gap from the weak, confused and overtly political federal response.

Nevada is a critical part of this national story. Las Vegas is an international city bringing an army of tourists daily from every state and nation. Had Sisolak not taken swift action, Las Vegas could have become an international vector for the disease, killing who knows how many more Nevadans and visitors. Washoe County has many of the same issues at a smaller scale. We see what happens when tourism meets disease in New Orleans, which is now one of the hardest-hit American cities. Scientists and professionals say that early action such as those taken by Sisolak makes all the difference.

From the moment Sisolak stepped into the gaping void of national leadership, he has taken tremendous heat from many with political or economic agendas. The mayor of Las Vegas demanded that casinos be reopened, despite the clear medical consensus. Officials in some areas at first refused to close businesses but have grudgingly gotten onboard. Yes, people will suffer serious economic hardship. It’s not a joke. There will be more loss, anxiety and uncertainty, and the economics will be life changing for too many Nevadans. But doing nothing would be worse.

Reno’s mayor attempted to get ahead of the calamity, by telling Reno businesses to shut down before Sisolak issued his order. Although Mayor Hillary Schieve has taken understandable criticism after her confusing announcement, I’m grateful she tried to lead and not just follow. Despite the turmoil, she gave Reno citizens an entire extra day to prepare for what we all know now was inevitable. It was not ideal, but because of her actions, I ended up better prepared.

Few local and state actions are perfect in an emergency. One of the governor’s press conferences looked (and sounded) like it was broadcast from a submarine at the bottom of Lake Tahoe. I was going to urge our elected leaders to get Nevada’s 12-year-old nephews to fix the Wi-Fi, but perhaps the low production values were a clear demonstration of having most of his staff working from home. Well played, Governor.

We must lean heavily on our state and local leaders and media sources, because our national politics is a sea of dysfunction, dishonesty and chaos. No one should be surprised. You can’t build a political career dividing Americans and expect to bring the country together. Our president is also the source of a great deal of misinformation about the pandemic. Trump has squandered America’s goodwill 10 times over, while denying the problem and ignoring medical professionals, and the damage can’t be undone by acting rationally during one press conference. This challenge would be easier for America had we not spent decades vilifying education and scientific expertise.
Edwin Lyngar

For now, I’ll look for leadership from our local and state leaders. Sisolak has called on us to avoid partisanship, but I don’t think it’s partisan to expose the continuing incompetence of our federal response. Deep in my heart, I hope the Trump administration gets it together, even as I know that they lack the ability or desire to do so. I feel comfort knowing that many great people are prepared to step up and fill the federal leadership void, as they have already shown they are willing and able to do.

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