It is obvious that the media view Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a 2024 threat; hence every discussion about COVID and the Delta variant must include an implication that Florida is a uniquely dire situation.
On his Friday show, CNN's Chris Cuomo blamed Florida for the CDC's revised mask guidelines, saying the country was being "held hostage" because of DeSantis' anti-science governance.
Cuomo was interviewing former testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir, when he asked:
The question becomes as a policy perspective, is how long do you allow the majority of this country, Republicans, Democrats, independents, south, north, the majority of every group and demographic we have, have gotten vaccinated, how long do you allow them to be held hostage in states, let's say, like Florida, where you have the governor saying, 'yeah, I know it's breaking out, I'm going the other way, don't Fauci my Florida, no mask mandates, I'll let the parents decide.' Where is that messaging going to get you?
Giroir, for his part, declined to join in on the DeSantis bashing and began his remarks by urging people to get vaccinated. As he did, however, CNN put a graphic on the screen that showed that Florida's case rate has increased by 50% over the last week.
The graphic provided did not put those numbers into context. Even though CNN's own website says Florida's 14 day case rate has increased by 144%, and Cuomo's brother Gov. Andrew Cuomo's New York has seen a similar increase of 141%. It also provided no information, comparative or otherwise, about hospitalizations and deaths, which are much more relevant than simple case numbers. Nor did it mention that as of July 31, Florida's one-shot rate is 57.2%, while the national rate is practically identical at 57.4%. Chris Cuomo has frequently attacked DeSantis while ignoring his brother's record.
While Giroir did not join in on the DeSantis hate train, he did wrap up the segment by endorsing the CDC's new guidelines: "Do believe even as a vaccinated person, the levels of virus, if you do get infected, are very high and will transmit to other people. Masks work 50% of the time in preventing it, 25% of the time for you getting it. But it's something we really need to do until more people get vaccinated."
This segment was sponsored Philadelphia cream cheese.
Here is a transcript for the July 30 show:
CNN
Cuomo Prime Time
9:12 PM ET
CHRIS CUOMO: The question becomes as a policy perspective, is how long do you allow the majority of this country, Republicans, Democrats, independents, south, north, the majority of every group and demographic we have, have gotten vaccinated, how long do you allow them to be held hostage in states, let's say, like Florida, where you have the governor saying, “yeah, I know it's breaking out, I'm going the other way, don't Fauci my Florida, no mask mandates, I'll let the parents decide.” Where is that messaging going to get you?
BRETT GIROIR: So I -- I think we need to be clear on messaging, and you've been very clear, Chris. Number one, get vaccinated. Vaccines will protect you against hospitalizations and deaths. And if we can eliminate the incredible levels of this virus, we won't have the variants anymore. But number two, for those people who are not vaccinated and now even for those who are vaccinated, we have to use imperfect measures. And a mask is one of them. I was pretty upset about the CDC not being transparent about their data three days ago.
CUOMO: Should have put the data out.
GIROIR: But having looked at it today, I'm really concerned. I do believe even as a vaccinated person, the levels of virus, if you do get infected, are very high and will transmit to other people. Masks work 50% of the time in preventing it, 25% of the time for you getting it. But it's something we really need to do until more people get vaccinated.
