While most Floridians showed that they were satisfied with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Covid-19 response by re-electing him by historic margins, liberal New York Times economist Paul Krugman criticized the Governor’s Covid-19 response on Twitter Sunday morning.
Krugman began by claiming that DeSantis’ Covid-19 response caused the “unnecessary death of 20,000 Floridians.”
Can Ron DeSantis effectively challenge Trump? I have no idea. But one thing I hope doesn't get forgotten in the horse-race coverage is DeSantis's major achievement as governor: the unnecessary death of around 20,000 Floridians 1/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 13, 2022
The economist claimed that DeSantis and other Republican Governors promoted “disinformation and anti-tax propaganda.”
He did not explain why advocating for low taxes somehow resulted in more Covid-19 deaths, though it is possible that he meant to say that DeSantis was promoting anti-vax propaganda.
Adjusted for population, the Florida-equivalent death toll was
FL 59,170
CA 39,217
NY 39,551So states that didn't have governors promoting Covid disinformation and anti-tax propaganda lost far fewer people — the equivalent of ~20K excess in FL 4/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 13, 2022
Krugman adjusted for population to claim that Florida had more Covid deaths than states with Democrat Governors who locked down their states, such as California and New York.
While he made sure to adjust for population, he dishonestly did not adjust for age, which was one of the most important determining factors if someone infected with Covid-19 would get seriously ill or die.
Now try age-adjusted. Florida isn't even in the top 25. https://t.co/UyEuGv3hO6 https://t.co/Vktt1mQXn6
— Kelley K (@KelleyKga) November 13, 2022
Another user pointed out that the CDC listed deaths from New York City and the state of New York separately, even though New York City is contained within New York state. When you combine both, New York had more Covid-19 deaths per capita than Florida, even if you don’t adjust for age.
Embarrassingly, the user said it only took them a few seconds to find his mistake.
It took me a few seconds to figure out your mistake. The CDC lists NYS numbers separate from NYC numbers. So NYS deaths were 38,910. NYC deaths were 36,392. You have to add them together and you get 75,302 deaths for NY including the 8.4 mil. in the city. ⬇️ https://t.co/avKNyp5wlg
— Πηνελόπη Ελένη ☮️🏹❤️🇬🇷🇨🇾✌️ (@PenelopeEleni) November 13, 2022
Krugman then implied that he does not support lockdowns but was simply criticizing DeSantis for promoting ‘disinformation’ regarding the vaccine.
“We’re not talking about lockdowns and restrictions at this point, just about lifesaving shots DeSantis deterred people from getting,” Krugman said.
And no, it's not about freedom. We're not talking about lockdowns and restrictions at this point, just about lifesaving shots that DeSantis deterred people from getting. Truly awesome 6/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 13, 2022
One user correctly pointed out that Krugman was not only an advocate of lockdowns but also advocated for extending them past what many Governors, including Governor DeSantis, allowed.
“Aren’t you the same clown that believed that lockdowns work?” he asked.
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In late 2020, Krugman defended New York Governor Christopher Cuomo’s restrictions on religious services, disagreeing with the Supreme Court for striking them down.
The first major decision from the Trump-packed court — and, naturally, it will kill people 1/ https://t.co/9K8hNxqhkp
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 26, 2020
In another tweet, he downplayed the harmful effects of lockdowns as “annoying, but sustainable” to justify prolonging lockdowns.
What, after all, was the situation under lockdown? It was annoying but sustainable. Many workers and some businesses were receiving enough in emergency aid to avoid hardship, and we could have plugged the holes in that safety net, making lockdown tolerable much longer 2/
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) July 11, 2020
His own publication, the New York Times, released a survey of school counselors and therapists that showed that students subjected to prolonged school closures faced various behavioral and mental health issues.
The pandemic certainly brought unique challenges to the United States and the world, and policymakers on both sides of the aisle made mistakes. Still, Krugman might be better off sticking to economics.
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Florida Shining Example of Election Integrity as Swing States Stumble and Take Days to Count Votes
DeSantis Takes Victory Lap, then Immediately Gets Back to Work on Hurricane Nicole Response
