Coronavirus for dummies — and Republican leaders peddling denial in Florida | Opinion
There’s no evidence that the novel coronavirus — infecting thousands daily in a new wave of community spread in Florida — comes with a political chip embedded.
But too many of the state’s Republican elected officials act like it does.
They continue to peddle denial for political reasons.
They want to deliver Florida to Donald Trump once more. But what they should be doing is acting with urgency to alert constituents in a clear and direct manner to the threat of a highly contagious, mutating virus.
Yes, coronavirus dummies, the virus has mutated, and although it doesn’t necessary make you sicker, scientists are concerned that it is even more contagious now.
Republican COVID-19 politics
But in his “Speaker’s Morning Digest. News, Opinion, & More” outgoing House Speaker José R. Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, won’t tell you things like that.
Instead, he delivers a daily dose of public relations shade to the surge in numbers, the skyrocketing unemployment and lockdowns (he’s against them) in the same way that, from the onset of the pandemic, he delivered confusion.
You would think that an elected official from Miami-Dade, Florida’s epicenter for the virus, would know better — and on several fronts.
For one, it’s very Granma-like for Oliva, who witch-hunts behavior in others that he considers Communist-supporting. And here he is, dispensing information cast as “news and opinion” that reflects only one point of view — his.
For months, Oliva has been sending to the Speaker of the House email list selective graphs, charts and articles that paint a rosier picture and skew the numbers of cases and hospitalizations to downplay the severity of infection.
Given the reality of the virus’ exponential growth that we’re experiencing now, trying to portray himself as a credible news source takes on another dimension.
(He also picks and chooses articles that show the Black Lives Matter movement in a bad light, but that’s another column.)
He’s no better on Twitter, where instead of leading the charge to wear masks, Oliva adds to the uncertainty by fulfilling his need to pass on conservative propaganda talking points.
“Health Experts say, Mass gatherings-Yes! Gathering for Mass-No! Anyone?” he tweeted June 3.
Never mind that the lockdown wasn’t an attack on churches or God, and that the BLM protests came after the reopening, when it was the Republican leadership delivering reassuring happy coronavirus talk and the Democrats urging caution.
I know, I know, it could be worse.
Florida man Matt Gaetz
At least our South Florida man isn’t as prolific and high-profile as the self-described quintessential “Florida man,” U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, the official clown of Congress.
Early in the crisis, he donned a gas mask to vote on a House bill to dedicate billions of dollars to combating coronavirus, making fun of a very serious situation.
Now, he blames the surge on “the strategic work we’re doing in Florida to go into areas that are more likely to have high coronavirus,” and says he doesn’t think the media “tells that story fairly.”
But all Gaetz is doing is peddling Trump-think that the coronavirus will magically disappear if we stop testing for it.
Coronavirus dummies: The nation’s experts, as well as our top health experts in Miami-Dade, have been clear and consistent in their messaging, even while acknowledging that they don’t know everything.
That’s why it’s called “the novel” coronavirus. We haven’t experienced it before.
Here’s the latest from Dr. Anthony Fauci — the nation’s top infectious disease expert, sidelined by Trump from media appearances — testifying before the Senate on Tuesday.
He warned that the United Stares could see 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day if we don’t contain the surge, adding that skyrocketing spikes in places like Florida put “the entire country at risk.”
“It could get very bad,” Fauci said. “I am very concerned.”
You should be concerned, too.
A New York Times database estimate places the number of new virus cases in the United States up by 80 percent in the past two weeks, most of it in the South (us) and the West (Arizona, which has had to close hospitals where there is no more room for patients).
As I said in my previous column, wear a damn mask — and don’t contribute to the spread.
You can decorate your mask with a Trump pin if that’s how you roll and need to make a political statement.
But when it comes to coronavirus, dump the political attitude, and demand better of your elected officials.
They should be modeling safety measures by wearing masks and social distancing, not playing political games.
