Post # 122, Bob McKnight's Florida Commentary
Governor Ron DeSantis seems like a Chief Executive that is stuck. It seems every time he tries to establish a policy, it goes to hell on him. From his appointments, to fighting the pollution of Lake Okeechobee, to establishing funding priorities for the Legislature, he seems to come up short. Even when he decided to run for Governor, his wife said his real motivation was not to advance Florida's interests, but was out of fondness for Trump.
So his quandary now is with establishing and carrying out a sound public policy to fight the Covid-19 Pandemic. He started out claiming to base his decisions on sound medical policy and advice. He then met with Trump at the White House and immediately agreed with the President to abandon the public protections. It seems the Governor does not connect the lifting of restrictions and the corresponding increase in cases reported. Florida now and for some time has been setting records for daily new cases reported. Why is that correlation between closeness among people and the increased probability of contracting Covid so hard to understand Governor? In looking at the dual objectives of the public health threat and getting our economy back on track, the formula seems fairly clear:
Reduce the spread by social distance--make 6 feet mandatory.
Require wearing masks at all times in public settings.
Cancel all events of 10 or more in one location.
Allow strategic and targeted businesses to reopen as long as 1-3 above are strictly enforced.
Test, test, test.
Track, track, track.
Report, report, report.
Protect and employ Floridians Governor. Maybe Covid-19 has just peeled away the real Ron DeSantis.