Q&A of the Day –Florida’s handling of the coronavirus crisis

Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.

Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com

Twitter: @brianmuddradio

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Today’s entries: 1) All New York flights outbound must be halted until further notice. Most New York flights come right here to south Florida. Asking people to self-quarantine is a joke.

2) All of the focus is on air travel but just look at how many New York license plates are still heading south on 95. Something needs to be done to stop this people from coming here!

3) Why doesn’t DeSantis just close the state down like the Democrats want? I don’t see the point in holding out.

Bottom Line: These are a smattering of notes I’ve received this week questioning the state’s response and most specifically Governor DeSantis’s emergency policies. Attention has ramped up on Florida’s response due to a full court press by Democrats and media allies. This week we’ve had Joe Biden, congressional democrats and our state’s top-ranking democrat – Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, criticize Governor DeSantis’s response/handling of the coronavirus response. Right on cue numerous media outlets, national and local alike, have played ball with their elected allies on the left. As this coordinated effort played out this week, so did these notes, concerns and criticisms. There’s just one thing missing. Anything factual being considered. First, I’ll address these specific notes/issues.

Regarding flights...As Governor DeSantis indicated, he doesn’t have the ability to prevent air travel. It’s federally regulated. President Trump would have to shut down the aviation industry in order to prevent flights entering Florida from New York or anywhere else. The best the state can do is order quarantines for those who travel from hot zones once they get here, as he’s done. Regarding people driving to Florida from impacted areas... Similar to aviation, the only way to prevent travel via interstates would be by executive action from President Trump. The best the state could do would be to have checkpoints at the border but the strain on critical resources, and the slowing down of food and essential goods being shipped into our state by that process would potentially create a bigger crisis than the threat from people traveling into Florida who shouldn’t be doing so right now. Regarding just closing down the entire state, not just South Florida, why? Based on what?

As I’ve said right along, I don’t pretend to have answers here, but the irony is rich for all who’ve called on Governor DeSantis to “lock down” Florida. Why are we having conversations about New Yorkers flying and driving to Florida? Isn’t New York “locked down”? How has that worked? Nearly half of the entire case count is in New York, a state smaller than Florida, which has 36,000+ more cases than ours. Anyone care to address reality? Fewer than half of the states nationally have completely “locked down” and yet Florida, which is performing better on a relative basis than almost other states is being singled out for criticism. How does that make any sense? In fact, all six states which have more cases than Florida are run by Democrats and are on lock down with rampant non-compliance. Where is the criticism and concern for these Governors who aren’t effectively enforcing their policies? Don’t get me wrong – I’m not casting stones at them– again, I don’t have the answers but then again – clearly these Democrats don’t either.

The only specific policy I definitively have a problem with are those which are using this crisis to release prisoners. I have no doubt we’ll look back on what’s happening in Florida and across the country after the fact and realize mistakes were made. But in the here and now, Florida is demonstrably performing better than most states on a relative basis and all states performing worse than us are doing exactly what these critics are calling for. As usual the most pervasive form of bias in news media is omitting information. Unfortunately, politics is involved. Democrats and their media allies, see an opportunity to attempt to dent Governor DeSantis’s popularity. It should be noted that the worst kept secret in state politics is Nikki Fried’s desire to run for governor.

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