'We need to focus on facts not fear': Florida governor touts state's coronavirus efforts

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday sharply criticized the earlier dire predictions of Florida's fate under the coronavirus, claiming that projections of the state's hospitalization and fatality rates were wildly overstated and arguing that Florida should follow a "safe, smart" path to re-opening its economy. 

Drawing from remarks he made at a press conference earlier in the week, DeSantis on Friday morning argued on Twitter that Florida should "focus on facts not fear." 

"They said Florida was going to be just like New York or an 'Uber Italy' when it came to hospitalizations and fatalities. This was wrong," he wrote. 

The governor was referring to a series of predictions made by experts and pundits in March that Florida, which locked down its economy later than many other U.S. states, would shortly be facing a brutal wave of coronavirus cases, critical hospitalizations and deaths. Florida's stay-at-home order did not go into effect until April 3, over two weeks after California had ordered its citizens to lock down and a week after most other states had done so. 

As of early May that dire scenario has apparently failed to materialize. On Saturday morning Florida ranked 23rd of all U.S. states for its population-adjusted death rate. Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration says the state has nearly 40 percent of its total hospital beds available, with well over a third of all ICU beds still open. 

The number of hospitalizations have gone up over the last month, though DeSantis argued that the results have been nowhere near what the state's critics envisioned.

The governor cited a Tampa Bay Times article from the last week in March, one which highlighted a coronavirus model's prediction that "465,699 people will be hospitalized because of COVID-19...by April 24." DeSantis pointed out that on that date, the state had 2,111 coronavirus patients in the hospital. 

"So they were off by about 463,000 hospitalizations," DeSantis said. 

The governor this week announced a phased reopening of Florida's economy, including allowing restaurants to begin serving limited numbers of patrons indoors. Medical providers in the state can once again begin offering elective procedures as well.  

DeSantis said the hardest-hit areas in the state, including Miami-Dade County, will still be subject to elevated restrictions for the time being.