Rand Paul Blasts Fauci: You Praised Andrew Cuomo, Why Not DeSantis Since Florida Had Far Fewer Deaths?

Republican Senator Rand Paul wondered on Monday why so much praise has been lavished by Dr. Anthony Fauci on New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo for his response to the coronavirus pandemic while ignoring Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis’ much more successful response.

Paul shared a tweet that asked, “FL and NY have an identical number of per capita coronavirus infections but FL has 5X less per capita deaths. Will Dr. Fauci be praising @GovRonDeSantis’ response to the pandemic? Will he point out that @NYGovCuomo’s response allowed a fivefold greater per capita death rate?”

 

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Cuomo insists that New York is the right COVID-19 model

Last month Fauci was asked during a PBS interview about the COVID-19 pandemic. Host Judy Woodruff asked Fauci about a solution for increasing testing and the doctor replied, “Again, we have a problem. We need to admit it and own it.”

“But we have got to do the things that are very clear that we need to do to turn this around, remembering we can do it,” Fauci said. “We know that, when you do it properly, you bring down those cases. We have done it.”

“We have done it in New York,” he continued. “New York got hit worse than any place in the world. And they did it correctly by doing the things that you’re talking about.”

According to The New York Times, as of August 3, New York had reported 421,008 cases of coronavirus with 32,401 deaths. Florida had reported at least 487,100 cases with 7,083 deaths.

That means 7.7% of New York’s cases resulted in death, but only 1.5% deaths due to coronavirus occurred in Florida.

New York issued an advisory in March forcing positive coronavirus patients into nursing homes

Over 6,200 senior New York residents might have died in nursing homes from coronavirus in according to state health department statistics.

Near the beginning of the pandemic in March, the New York Department of Health issued an advisory that stated nursing homes had to accept residents returning from hospitals even if they had tested positive for coronavirus.

“During this global health emergency, all NHs must comply with the expedited receipt of residents returning from hospitals to NHs,” the advisory statement read. “Residents are deemed appropriate for return to a NH upon a determination by the hospital physician or designee that the resident is medically stable for return.”

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‘No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19’

“Hospital discharge planners must confirm to the NH, by telephone, that the resident is medically stable for discharge,” it continued. “Comprehensive discharge instructions must be provided by the hospital prior to the transport of a resident to the NH.”

“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the NH solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” read the advisement. “NHs are prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

According to The Daily Wire, in early May New York state statistics showed that “at least 4,813 residents with confirmed or presumed cases of COVID-19 have died at 351 of New York’s 613 nursing homes since March 1, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration’s new list.”