We applaud Sumter County Health Department Administrator Dr. Sanford D. Zelnick for warning residents to take precautions as COVID-19 numbers skyrocket across the state – but we have to wonder how much grief he took from the control-freak governor’s office for doing the right thing.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who at times has exhibited a lackadaisical attitude toward COVID-19, clearly is hell-bent on keeping all aspects of the state open for business despite thousands of new cases being reported on a daily basis. That approach has brought DeSantis under fire but he continues to follow the script of his puppet master, President Donald Trump, who constantly has made light of the “China Virus” despite catching COVID-19 himself and needing hospital care.
DeSantis has been accused of having the state manipulate COVID-19 data to present more favorable death numbers prior to the Nov. 3 presidential election. The Florida Sun-Sentinel has gone so far as to claim that on Oct. 24 – 10 days before the election – Florida stopped including backlogged COVID-19 deaths in its daily tally of fatalities. Two weeks after the election, those numbers magically started appearing again.
Along those same lines, county health departments across the state pretty much stopped issuing press releases about the virus in the lead-up to the election. Some departments, like the one in Marion County, were at one time issuing daily releases, but that suddenly stopped as the election approached.
DeSantis, who clearly takes his marching orders from Trump and obviously has his sights set on the White House, also is accused of downplaying the severity of COVID-19. As of Friday, the state was reporting 1,181,483 cumulative cases of the virus – a 1,911 percent increase in positive results since June 3 when the governor announced that Florida was moving into Phase Two of his plan to reopen the state. But he still isn’t talking about the severity of the virus and continues to follow Trump’s lead in denouncing mask mandates and restrictions on businesses.
DeSantis also has attempted to override local governments that want to require masks and social distancing, among other things. Some of those city leaders currently are fighting back by passing ordinances that call for fines for those who don’t wear masks nor practice social distancing at area businesses, with one health official proclaiming that the governor is putting politics in front of lives.
If that’s not enough, DeSantis toured Florida with Dr. Scott Atlas, the wacky COVID-19 adviser Trump brought to his Coronavirus task force when he got tired of hearing legitimate warnings from Dr. Anthony Fauci. Atlas’ views on wearing masks and reopening society aligned with those of the president, so it came as no surprise that he was dispatched to Florida – prior to the election – and quickly appeared with DeSantis during a stop at UF Health The Villages Hospital.
During that Aug. 31 visit to the community, Atlas touted how the elderly were being protected against COVID-19. Yet, numbers released that day showed that 35 deaths had occurred at 10 long-term care centers in and around The Villages. Of those, 32 were residents, one was an employee and two remained under investigation.
Atlas, by the way, is a radiologist and is by no means an infectious disease expert like Fauci. He is a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank. During his short helm as Trump’s adviser, he made such outrageous statements about COVID-19 – including urging Michigan residents to “rise up” against public health measures – that his university distanced itself from him and pointed out its support for the use of masks and social distancing and following the guidance of local state health officials.
For his part, DeSantis has vehemently denied the allegations about manipulating COVID-19 death numbers prior to the election. He instead claims that a late-October change in the process of reviewing suspected COVID-19 deaths led to the slowdown of reporting backlogged fatalities.
Note to DeSantis: Really? Are you seriously going to stick to that lame explanation when it’s more than obvious what really happened? We all know Trump tells you when to jump and you ask how high, so it should come as no surprise that you followed his lead in failing to take this virus – one that has killed 20,690 people in Florida and 313,588 people across the country – seriously enough to act like a leader instead of a spoiled brat every time you get asked legitimate questions about the rising number of cases.
We said in a September editorial that you had done a deplorable job of handing the COVID-19 pandemic. Our views haven’t changed and we still believe you check in with the White House every day before saying a word about anything related to COVID-19. Frankly, it would be nice if you stopped being the I’ve-got-to-maintain-my-popularity-while-people-die governor and instead started worrying about those who are looking to you for leadership in these scary and unprecedented times.
That said, we once again offer our thanks to Zelnick for issuing the recent warning to Sumter County residents as COVID-19 cases continue to rise rapidly in the county that’s home to the vast majority of Villages homes. He pointed out that a prediction that the number of new cases would increase once cooler weather hit the local area has come true. And he added that as a community, everyone has a responsibility to others to take whatever reasonable actions they can to protect the most vulnerable residents, many of whom fall into the age category of those living in Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.
“I am asking you to please redouble your efforts to protect yourselves and others during this critical period until vaccines become widely available,” Zelnick wrote. “This includes wearing a mask, particularly when participating in activities indoors, maintaining social distance from others when possible and frequently washing your hands.”
Zelnick also issued a warning about holiday gatherings.
“Social activities during this holiday season such as potluck events and public gatherings involving singing in close proximity to one another are associated with an increased risk of becoming infected,” he said. “Together, we can flatten the curve of rising cases in this community.”
Zelnick also has a team of nurses offering free COVID-19 testing (by appointment) weekdays at the Sumter County Annex at County Road 466 and Morse Boulevard. That dedicated team has been out in the brutal heat and, more recently, out in the morning cold.
We encourage everyone to follow Zelnick’s advice and take those added precautions despite the poppycock you might hear spewing from DeSantis’ unmasked mouth. Whether he wants to admit it or not, this pandemic is out of control –13,000 new cases were reported on Friday alone across the Sunshine State – and we all need to do our part to get it under control once and for all. Unfortunately, our governor either doesn’t understand that or more likely has been told to ignore it.
It’s called politics over lives, folks, and it must come to an end right now. Floridians deserve better from their so-called leader.
