Friday, January 07, 2022

DeSantis Deliberately Allowed More Than One Million COVID Test Kits To Expire (While He Vanished For 17 Days), Then Lied About It, And Attempted A Cover-Up, As Florida's Infection Rate Increased By 1,000%, With Record Number Of Cases & Hospitalizations

Up To 1 Million Rapid Covid-19 Tests Expired In Florida Last Month, State Official Says
Steve Contorno, CNN, January 7, 2022
Amid a winter surge of coronavirus cases that sparked a nationwide scramble for tests last month, as many as 1 million unused Covid-19 rapid test kits expired in a Florida warehouse, a top state official said on Thursday. . . .

The kits, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, expired "before December 26 to December 30," Guthrie said, just as the state experienced a wave of new coronavirus cases driven in part by the highly contagious Omicron variant.

For weeks, Floridians have waited for hours to get tested, with reports of long lines first emerging in mid-December, as the fast-spreading Omicron first appeared in the state. . . .

The Florida Department of Emergency Management did not immediately respond to CNN when asked if the state had considered sharing the tests before they expired. . . .

State Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democratic candidate for governor in Florida, first unveiled on December 30 that she had inside knowledge the state had a stock of expiring testing kits that it hadn't distributed to clinics and providers. . . .

A Florida Department of Health official mocked Fried's assertions on Twitter at the time. . . .

Fried responded to the department's comment on the surplus supply, saying in a statement: "It's bad enough that Governor DeSantis has deprioritized testing with Omicron exploding across Florida, but it's an absolute disgrace for the Governor and his communications team to have lied and covered up the massive failure of a million unused tests while Floridians wait in hours-long lines for local tests that are running out."

Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations have risen sharply in recent weeks in Florida. The state is averaging 37,563 new cases a day over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Florida Breaks COVID-19 Daily Cases Record 6th Time In 2 Weeks
Sam Sachs, WFLA, January 7, 2022
On Jan. 6, Florida reported 76,887 cases, beating the previous daily high of 75,732 on Dec. 30. . . .

The previous weekly report from the Florida Department of Health showed 302,179 new cases, with 4,166,392 cumulative cases in Florida since the start of the pandemic, compared to the 3,864,213 total the week of Dec. 17 to Dec. 23. . . .

As a result of more residents seeking test results as omicron spreads, particularly following the New Year holiday, lines for testing sites and wait times have both gotten longer. . . .

The push for more treatment supplies and more testing supplies comes as a report by the University of Florida predicted about 80% of the state will have gotten COVID-19 by the end of the omicron wave.
DeSantis has wholeheartedly embraced Trumpian logic: "Slow down the testing, please!" and "If you don't do any testing, you will have very few cases."

By the way:

U.S. Conservatives Want To Save Australia From 'COVID Tyranny.' Australians Aren't Interested
Chad de Guzman, Time, October 22, 2021
Outspoken political commentator Candace Owens went as far as suggesting that the U.S. military should invade Australia because it has turned into a "police state," comparing the country's government to the regimes of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.

"When do we deploy troops to Australia? When do we invade Australia and free an oppressed people who are suffering under a totalitarian regime? When do we spend trillions of dollars to spread democracy in Australia?" the right wing pundit said on her Daily Wire TV show earlier this week.

Owens' rant is the latest condemnation of Australia's COVID-19 measures by U.S. conservatives. Republican Senator Ted Cruz has also been critical of certain policies in the country.
             Population   COVID Deaths   Deaths/Million
Australia    25,947,462       2,321             89
Florida      21,477,737      62,622          2,916


And Why Was DeathSantis MIA For 17 Days?
at

1 comment:

  1. Paul HickmanMonday, January 10, 2022 2:41:00 AM

    Message to Candace Owens & her collection of "cranks"

    I live in Australia.

    We have a sensible approach to most things & Governments at all Levels, Federal, State & Local have helped to Save Lives.

    They have done this by listening to Science & Medical Experts.

    Unlike America, which disgraced itself, with Tronald Dump's Regime of Terror & the hopeless Florida "Governor", Ron DeathSentence, who continues to persecute the population with Human Stupidity.

    It is hugely laughable that Candace & her type of "lunatic", thinks Australia needs saving - I'd look at the facts & on your side of the fence first, you utter fool.


    America is INDEED the land of the Free.

    Free to be ill-informed

    Free to disbelieve Facts

    Free to peddle misinformation, or more correctly, LIES

    Free to be a Covidiot


    Australia has less tolerance for that type of Narcissistic Freedom.

    Australia is a Society that believes in a Social Contract, being Civil & not Selfish.

    It is NO SURPRISE to me that we have done Far Far Better than America during Covid - the Facts don't Lie.

    We have Cranks in this Country, but way way fewer than in America - a Tronald Dump type would NEVER be elected in this Country, there's not enough fools to vote for a Dictator who denies Science, Progress & Common Sense.

    Long may that continue .......

    Besides, Australia may have to invade America & help out "the sensible side" ( note : that won't be your side, Candace ) during The Civil War of 2024-2025 ???

    Laugh Now ........

    You might not be laughing then

    ReplyDelete