I think we can not tell yet (I'm a FL'dn) what impacts can and can't be attributed to DeSantis. His motivations are clearly disturbing (fine w/ trading lives for economy) and I strongly dislike him.

However, it is most important to me that we learn the lessons that are. If an earnest and incorrupt study (including fixing his skewed death stats) of the FL response exonerates him, then I want to know that.

notes: Some things that DeSantis can not take credit for

ALF responses. My son works at a (worldwide corp) ALF here and they were a model of competency. eg: PPE on day one. Rigid, mandatory vaccines for staff. Ebola-like (my term) response to positive clients, inc full biohazard suits for routine contact.

Counties' responses: It was largely up to counties to impose mandatory mask orders and indoor venue restrictions. Most (perhaps all) did.

...but that's really the point: it turns out that cookie cutter interventions at the State level are, in nearly every case, a huge failure with dramatic, life-ending or -changing consequences.

I'm in Pinellas County, where there are indoor mask requirements for some places, but no other NPIs in place. Live music is on, gyms are open and people are getting back in shape, etc.

At the end of the day, Florida's numbers are the envy of most states, without any school closures and almost no statewide lockdown. There's no doubt that this will be a model for future pandemics if harm reduction is a primary goal.

Perhaps the strangest and most notable outcropping here is this: DeSantis, who as far as I can tell is a corrupt, prison-mongering, racist douche bag, for some unexplained reason had almost singular gumption to listen to progressive, established epidemiologists like Gupta, Kulldorff, Baral, Prasad - people who obviously have almost nothing politically in common with him. Why?

Let's face it: epidemiology is not a field with a lot of people who you'd view as to the right on the political spectrum (I say with a disclaimer that I think that the right-left dichotomy in politics is no longer a useful tool).

But why did nearly every other governor bench the career researchers and academics and bring in second-stringers, who had much more draconian and authoritarian leanings?

> it turns out that cookie cutter interventions at the State level are, in nearly every case, a huge failure with dramatic, life-ending or -changing consequences.

That may be part of a lesson we take away from this. Actions that hinge more on trust and less on expensive resources may be more effective when enacted at a local level.

> At the end of the day, Florida's numbers are the envy of most states, without any school closures and almost no statewide lockdown.

Remote learning and virtual schooling are viable alts to closing schools - esp in a state w/ higher numbers of kids living with grandparents.

> DeSantis ... for some unexplained reason had almost singular gumption to listen to progressive, established epidemiologists like Gupta, Kulldorff, Baral, Prasad

I'll need post-event analysis before I understand how much of their counsel was reflected in his actions.

> "Remote learning and virtual schooling are viable alts to closing schools".

No. They are not. They are only good for a short period as a temporary alternative. Not for whole semester or even whole school year.

I strongly disagree. My kids have benefited tremendously from virtual learning for a decade. It enabled at least two of them to graduate on time.

We started remote learning this year and we find it, in every way, better than no schooling at all. In some ways it is even better than norm-year, in person schooling - eg: quieter edu time, no between-class cattle herding, no time lost to transportation.