On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci responded to a question on Florida having a lower coronavirus death rate than states that had far stricter restrictions by stating that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) did some things right, but also that DeSantis did some things that he didn’t agree with. When Fauci was pressed for more detail he said, “some of the things that were done down there by people at the local level really actually did work.”
Host Erin Burnett asked, “In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, as you know, right, long opposed to mask mandates, lockdowns of any sort, school closures. But what’s interesting about Florida, and I wanted to give you a chance to talk about this, because Florida ranks 27th in the nation for per capita deaths from the virus. Some states that shut down, obviously, and had all those mandates, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts all have higher death rates. Do you think it’s possible, when you look back on this, that it may be that DeSantis did some things right?”
Fauci responded, “Well, I’m sure he did. I don’t think it would be fair to say that the governor of Florida did everything wrong, not at all. There were certain things that were done that I disagreed with, and that — it wasn’t just me personally. It’s the — any public health person who looked at it. But I think it would be unfair to say that he did everything wrong.”
Burnett asked, “Are there some things when you look at Florida that you think that he did get right?”
Fauci responded, “Well, you know, we — Erin, we had often talks on a weekly basis during the last administration with the mayors of Miami and of Dade County. And some of the things that were done down there by people at the local level really actually did work. I mean, they were very careful. They tried really very hard.”
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