- November 21, 2024
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Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried plans to have her department release daily reports on COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations because the Florida Department of Health -- under her political foe, Gov. Ron DeSantis -- has switched to providing such information once a week.
Fried, the only Democrat holding a statewide office and a 2022 candidate for governor, said she is still working on how the information will be provided, through press conferences, news releases or online posts.
But with the delta variant of the coronavirus driving up case numbers in Florida, she told reporters Wednesday, July 28, that the “people of Florida need and deserve access to regular timely updates as it relates to the ongoing pandemic, not secret meetings, or sporadic information sharing.”
“We live in the state of Florida,” Fried said. “We all know that we are susceptible to hurricanes. We all know how to prepare for hurricanes. We know that we’ve got to stock up on medicine and water and food. And if we have a threat of a hurricane, we expect daily briefings.”
Other than through her megaphone as a statewide elected official and as head of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Fried has little direct control over the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fried said she isn’t calling for lockdowns or mandatory mask mandates, which she did a year ago. But she said she intends to provide data submitted by county health departments to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House Health Equity COVID-19 Task Force.
The Florida Department of Health in early June scaled back from releasing daily reports to weekly reports, as new cases and hospitalizations dropped. Also, the weekly reports provide less detailed information than the daily reports, which were posted for much of 2020 and the first half of 2021.
DeSantis’ office has said the administration does not plan to return to daily reports.
Meanwhile, DeSantis on Wednesday raised money for his political committee through an email that blasted Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a favorite target of conservatives. Also, during an appearance at a conservative policy conference in Utah hosted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, DeSantis mocked new mask guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Tuesday night, DeSantis accused the CDC of being ideologically driven as he appeared on the Mark Levin Show.
“So much of this is not science Mark, it’s political science,” DeSantis said. “And that's what I think the CDC unfortunately has been operating under now for many, many months.”
COMMS SHOP COMBAT
Well-known animosity between DeSantis and Fried apparently carries down to their communications offices.
As part of a back and forth Wednesday night on Twitter, in part over the COVID-19 numbers, Fried spokesman Franco Ripple offered some advice about handling the media to DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw, a recent hire in the governor’s office.
“Since you’re new here, a tip: respect the press,” Ripple tweeted. “It’ll make your job easier. And they’ll respect you back. Respect Florida’s constitutional officers, while you’re at it. Good day.”
Pushaw initially replied, “Uh… ok?” And then spent time online saying thanks but no thanks to Ripple through responses to her followers.
Among her tweeted replies:
-- “It’s surprising that Nikki Fried’s communications director would speak so bluntly about the importance of scratching the media’s back so they scratch yours. I am old-school, so I expect press to be more adversarial with all politicians.”
-- “LOL. And…by the way, it’s not a good thing for the press and government/politicians to be too friendly with each other. I do make a point of timely response to every media inquiry I can, and try to be accessible, but press/gov are meant to have an adversarial relationship.”
-- “They all ‘respect the press’ and the press returns the favor, I guess. Pretty amazing how many newspapers endorsed (2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew) Gillum. Scary to think what FL would be like today if he had won.”
A profile of Pushaw published Tuesday by the Tampa Bay Times noted that in the past month and a half she had tweeted at least 3,800 times.
SEEKING MORE FREEDOM
The numbers aren’t in yet to show how shopping went during the state’s first “Freedom Week” sales-tax holiday at the start of July, but a chief lobbyist for retailers wants to do it again.
“I think that there was a lot of enthusiasm both on the retail side and in talking to consumers,” Florida Retail Federation President Scott Shalley said Tuesday. “But there was also a little bit of confusion as to what was covered. So, like anything new, you're gonna have to work through the nuances of that. And we look forward to working with the Legislature to refine it for next year.”
Held around Independence Day, the tax holiday allowed shoppers to avoid paying sales taxes on purchases including grills; bicycles; fishing and camping gear; kayaks and canoes; tickets for concerts, movies and ball games; gym memberships; boxes of softballs and sleeves of tennis balls; and even sunscreen. It was projected by economists to save $42 million for shoppers.
TWEET OF THE WEEK: “If you don’t think our hospitals are full of people with COVID that aren’t vaccinated and that docs and nurses aren’t at capacity you are ignorant at best. Stop the nonsense.” -- Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry (@lennycurry).
