Editorial Roundup: Florida

Recent editorials from Florida newspapers:

May 24

The Palm Beach Post on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration withholding facts from the public regarding the pandemic:

Throughout the pandemic, the DeSantis administration has shown us time and again that it doesn’t trust the public with the facts.

For weeks, Florida’s state government wouldn’t release information to say where the novel coronavirus was taking its toll in the state’s many nursing homes. Likewise, with the number of cases at state prisons.

More recently, state health authorities muzzled public medical examiners, ordering them, for the first time in 30 years, to deny requests for information about deaths in their communities.

And the disturbing developments just keep coming.

This past week, a Department of Health employee who has managed Florida’s much-heralded online statistical dashboard of COVID-19 information said she was told to resign or be fired after she refused to delete certain numbers from the totals.

Rebekah Jones told WPEC-CBS12 that she was shown the door because she would not “manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen.”

And the Miami Herald reported that as early as Feb. 13, long before making any public announcements, the DOH was assembling an emergency response team to “contain the spread of the virus.”

Records and memos marked “confidential” reveal that “by Feb. 18, more than 500 people in Florida had been flagged for monitoring for possible exposure and more than a dozen people had been tested (all with negative results) - figures the state refused to release, even to local hospitals and to state senators at a public hearing,” the Herald wrote.

Not until March 1 did DeSantis, by then under pressure from local governments in South Florida and some other parts of the state, declare a public emergency. By that time, 188 people had already died in Florida, according to information released Thursday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement - substantially more than the 85 that the state acknowledged at the time.

Earlier action almost certainly would have saved lives: nationally, about 36,000 deaths could have been avoided if social distancing measures had been put in place a week earlier, a new study by Columbia University researchers has determined.

In recent weeks, DeSantis has touted Florida’s relatively benign experience in the pandemic - our more than 2,000 deaths just a sliver of a national death toll nearing 100,000 - as an important justification for green-lighting a calibrated reopening of the state.

Never mind that the official count is almost certainly unrealistically low. An analysis by the Tampa Bay Times and University of South Florida has found that the epidemic’s true death count may be 17% to 58% higher than the official figures. In the five weeks after April 5, they found hundreds more unexpected deaths from illness and disease.

DeSantis has also touted the dashboard, citing it as a potential national model for delivering accurate and easy-to-understand information to visualize trends in the disease’s spread across the sprawling state.

It is of grave importance if Jones’ charges of being pressured to remove certain data are valid. DeSantis has denied her claims by insisting the state’s data is transparent and attacking Jones’ credibility in personal terms. His spokeswoman, Helen Aguirre Ferré, who has worked in the Trump White House, called Jones an “insubordinate employee” - which may be true, but is also exactly what you’d expect a defensive boss to say about an underling who wouldn’t follow an improper, illegal or immoral order.

What is needed is an independent investigation to ferret out the truth of these charges. And soon.

The stakes here are huge. Nobody is enjoying this lockdown, yet 83% of Americans remain at least somewhat concerned that lifting restrictions in their area will lead to additional infections, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

To reopen safely, we must be able to trust that our leaders are working with truthful data and that they are leveling with us. Yet the DeSantis administration has repeatedly acted as if truthful data are secrets too sensitive for the public’s tender ears.

Everyone knows there are powerful incentives for politicians to put the rosiest possible gloss on the pandemic; no one wants a record replete with high numbers of infections and deaths. And the sooner the economy can be allowed to rev up, the better the re-election prospects for President Trump and his party.

Floridians need as clear a picture of reality as possible to come out of this pandemic as healthy and whole as possible. Unfortunately, their governor has sown distrust by his administration’s repeated claim to be transparent while keeping the lid on information of vital importance.

Online: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/

May 22

The Orlando Sentinel on Florida being the spot to relaunch sports:

Professional sports are stirring out their coronavirus hibernations. They are looking for places to train and play, but they aren’t sure where to do it.

Come on down to Florida.

That’s what Gov. Ron DeSantis has been preaching, and it seems people are listening. Among them are the governors of California, New York and New Jersey.

Until this week, they were skeptical of games being played in their states before a coronavirus vaccine was developed. The prospect of their teams temporarily locating Florida might have changed that view.

“Money changes everything,” tweeted Richard Sherman, a cornerback with the San Francisco 49ers. “Teams started exploring other options outside the state and all of a sudden the timeline changed.”

Money no doubt has a lot to do with it. But the governors might also have sensed their beleaguered citizens are starving for entertainment diversions.

Sports tops that menu, and millions of fans have been served mostly cold leftovers for months.

“You get tired of looking at nine-year-old baseball games, and playoff games that took place 12 years ago,” President Trump said.

We don’t often compare to Trump to Franklin Roosevelt, but he nailed this issue. FDR urged Major League Baseball to keep playing during World War II so Americans would have an entertainment diversion.

Today’s fans apparently crave one just as badly during the war on COVID-19. NASCAR restarted its engine last week and ratings for the Darlington, South Carolina, were up 38% over the last pre-shutdown race.

Baseball fans have been watching Korean Baseball Organization games at all hours of the night. What would they give to see a Yankees-Red Sox game, even if nobody is in stands?

Every major sport has come out with reopening plans ladled with contingencies. One potential complication is testing. Leagues are sensitive to the perception they might be taking tests away from the public, so they are working to get their own.

A bigger issue is location. Some cities may not be amenable to games as early as June.

If they don’t want them, we’ll take ’em.

“Any of those leagues that have teams in states that won’t allow that competition, we can find places here in Florida,” DeSantis said. “We believe getting sports back online is important for the nation’s mojo.”

Any activity increases risks, but worries of sports-induced coronavirus doom have not come true so far.

Leagues have extensive health protocols in their plans. Among baseball’s many new restrictions: no spitting.

The risk to the public would be minimal since fans would not be allowed into games. That could change as the coronavirus curve continues to flatten and, we hope, keep dropping, though no league foresees even limited attendance before September.

What might fans see, at least on TV?

Baseball teams could return to their Florida spring training sites for abbreviated training. The NFL reopened its training facilities this week and hopes to proceed with its fall schedule. That prospect improved when California Gov. Gavin Newsom and others reversed field this week.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf remains a holdout. If he doesn’t allow games in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the Steelers and Eagles would find a welcome mat at Camping World Stadium.

The biggest impact in Florida could come from basketball and soccer. Major League Soccer is considering bringing its 26 teams to train and play a tournament at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports.

That site has also reportedly emerged as the frontrunner for the NBA’s return. The league plans to create an isolated “campus” environment for a playoff tournament, meaning the NBA championship trophy could be hoisted in Orlando.

With all due respect to the Magic, who would have dreamed that three months ago?

Between the sprawling Wide World of Sports complex and other facilities, Central Florida is one of the few spots on earth that could entertain the thought of being Ground Zero for the return of sports.

Given the precautions leagues would take, the rewards of the sports revival outweigh the risks. The economic impact would certainly be muted since fans wouldn’t be booking hotel rooms or packing restaurants.

But a pent-up emotional impact has been waiting to watch LeBron James dunk or Wayne Rooney score a goal or Aaron Judge hit a home run.

If sports needs a place to help get America’s mojo back, we have just the spot.

Online: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/

May 21

The Miami Herald on U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio becoming an acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee:

Florida’s senior U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio should make the most of his talents as “Trump whisperer.” He could help elevate the country’s stature in the eyes of a disappointed world.

This week, Republican leaders tapped Rubio to be acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the most powerful committees in Congress.

His predecessor, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, is under investigation for recent suspicious stock transactions after being briefed about the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. He has stepped aside

Rubio, the committee’s most influential and knowledgeable member, is the right person for the job, be it temporary or permanent. Though he naturally demurred, acknowledging that he’s a fill-in, he’s savvy enough to know that he’s also a likely shoo-in for the position should Burr not return. In other words, it’s a serious audition.

FIRST CUBAN AMERICAN

Foreign policy wrapped in national security long has been the senator’s strong suit. Having the Miami-based Rubio lead the committee is a feather in South Florida’s cap, too. He’s the first Cuban American to hold the post and the first Floridian since Bob Graham in 2003. Ours is a region where foreign policies involving international friends and foes are entwined with local politics - for good and for ill. Rubio’s selection couldn’t be more appropriate.

The committee oversees the U.S. intelligence community, the federal agencies and bureaus that provide information and analysis for leaders of the legislative and executive branch - that’s President Trump.

Rubio takes the panel’s main seat at a time of turnover and tension between the intelligence community and the White House. Trump has fired or removed several officials in the past year.

Against this backdrop, the man that Trump nicknamed “Little Marco” during Rubio’s failed 2016 run at the presidency, will bring his tough and insightful questioning of those who appear in front of the committee.

Rubio knows his stuff.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY

Rubio’s disdain for bad international actors like Cuba, Venezuela, China, Russia and Iran is well-known. He will not tolerate their shenanigans and calls them out when necessary, especially Cuban and Venezuelan leaders.

Rubio often writes blistering Opinion articles in major American newspapers calling those countries on the carpet for their wrongdoing. Rubio should wholeheartedly continue to drive home the point that the United States is nobody’s fool. It’s not new territory for Rubio.

The senator single-handledly convinced President Trump that the Nicolás Maduro regime and his goons must go and has lobbied successfully to restrict Obama-era approved travel between the United States and Cuba. He has called out the Russians for meddling with our presidential election and China for its lack of transparency about the coronavirus epidemic. He agrees with Trump, who says the Iran nuclear deal is a bad one.

As he takes his new post, we urge the hawkish Rubio to pick his international battles carefully, and with nuance. China, for instance, might not be our best friend, but Americans sure do like their iPhones and affordable footwear from Walmart. We urge him, too, to use his power of persuasion to instill a sense of less-heated and long-term strategy in the president, for the sake of national security.

He rightly pledges to work with Democrats, as he has done in the past. Great, the committee’s work should not dismissed as simplistic Trumpian pablum.

Rubio will now have access to some of the highest-level secrets in Congress. How he handles that knowledge is crucial to his success, and to our future.

Online: https://www.miamiherald.com/