Miami-Dade mayor deserves an ‘I told you so’ for botched coronavirus opening | Opinion
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has been making the rounds on national television for all the wrong reasons.
No, it’s not a-star-is-born kind of story.
The mayor has botched the county’s entry into the coronavirus “new normal,” buckling under political and public pressure to open too soon — and doing so without the proper enforcement of safety rules in place.
Now we’re back to daily record-setting numbers of people infected, soaring positive test rates (from 8 percent to 20 percent by his own account), increases in hospitalizations that are taxing hospitals and healthcare workers and a death toll that has surpassed 4,000 in Florida.
Yes, I’m going to go there, Mr. Mayor: I told you so.
I told the mayor that when he started talking about ending Miami-Dade’s short-lived lockdown that with the numbers of residents infected still growing — and with community spread setting records in Florida’s epicenter and little contact tracing to stem it — it was premature to open places where people congregate in close quarters.
I wasn’t the only one sounding the alarm bell.
Many others did, too. They were crunching data, listening closely to national and local health experts — and watching the reckless behavior of Miami-Dade residents who wouldn’t wear masks or practice social distancing.
Florida’s hot spot
Thanks to the mayor’s wishy-washy, lackluster leadership, we started off the pandemic as Florida’s hot spot — and we’re still the No. 1 culprit for the state’s rise in confirmed cases.
While people in Miami-Dade make up a little more than 10 percent of Florida’s population, the county accounts for 25 percent of the state’s cases.
Journalists are calling Gimenez to account, and not to give him free advertising as he runs for Congress, as some campaign operatives have boasted.
There’s nothing to brag about, only to lament.
Five months into the pandemic, we are in a worse place than we were before reopening, making national headlines for being one of the 20-something states awash in red for rates of infection on coronavirus maps.
No, it’s not a badge of honor to be called on by the networks.
“I’ll be on @MSNBC with @AymanM to talk about the rollback of opening our economy in Miami-Dade and why I’m doing it,” the mayor tweeted, giddy with the possibility of newfound fame. “See you in a few minutes.”
But anchor Stephanie Ruhle called his bluff when he began to blame the spike on everyone and everything but himself: Memorial Day Weekend, the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, “some openings” and young people being young people.”
It was laughable to hear him go on and on about people not wearing masks and violating the rules as if this were something new. It was happening in plain sight when he hastily opened the county — and repeatedly praised the people of Miami-Dade for following rules.
“I’m pleased to see Miami-Dade County’s cities are taking seriously the New Normal rules requiring masks, social distancing and many other protocols for businesses, parks, beaches and marinas to remain open,” he said in a June 22 statement.
Ruhle pointed out what critics have been saying all along: There’s a lack of clear, consistent messaging, a lack of transparency about how decisions are made and faulty communication.
“Help us to understand the thinking,” she prodded, pointing out that Gimenez said he was closing gyms and restaurant dining service to deal with the renewed surge, then the next day amended the order to say that outdoor sit-in service was allowed at restaurants and that gyms could stay open if people wore masks.
And, for good measure, Gimenez took a swipe at Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who rightly so, didn’t open businesses in the city of Miami when Gimenez lifted the lockdown on most businesses in the county, except construction, of course.
Gimenez would never do that to his donor developer friends. No, he appoints the builders backing his congressional bid to serve as advisors to serve on his COVID working groups.
On the TV show, Gimenez also blamed Suarez for hampering communication by not attending meetings he claimed Suarez should be attending.
I’m pretty sure that people suffering through this pandemic don’t give a damn about their mayoral turf feuds.
Late response now and then
Like the president, who has endorsed Gimenez’s congressional bid for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, the mayor downplayed the risk coronavirus posed early in the crisis and has then lagged behind at every stage of the disease’s progress.
He added to the confusion emanating from the White House by praising President Donald Trump’s “strong leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
When other cities such as New York, Boston and San Francisco had already released preparedness plans, the mayor was calling meetings to prepare one. Likewise, he was a month late in closing down bars and restaurants.
In March, he was still declaring COVID-19 “low risk” and urging residents to “go ahead and live your life normally.”
And he’s now also behind on contact tracing, vital to slowing the continued surge of coronavirus cases. On that issue, he’s playing footsie with Gov. Ron DeSantis about who was supposed to do what.
DeSantis continues to fail Florida, no surprise there. But Miami-Dade’s predicament? That’s all on Carlos Gimenez, no star at all, on and off the screen.
