Christina Pushaw accused the Washington Post of focusing more scrutiny on the number of COVID-19 cases in Florida than the numbers in northern states, throwing the outlet’s catchphrase — “Democracy dies in darkness” — back in its face.
Pushaw, spokeswoman for Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, shared screenshots of an email she received from The Washington Post — requesting data about Florida’s recent uptick in COVID-19 cases — and her reply.
Democracy dies in darkness 🤡 pic.twitter.com/9s5ScVyVYx
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) December 30, 2021
The Washington Post’s query email read:
Good morning Christina,
I’m working on a story about the state of the pandemic with a focus on emerging hotspots in the south, and we were going to include context about the latest numbers in Florida if you can send me any information about how the DeSantis administration is preparing for and responding to this latest surge.
Might also include the criticism from Jerry Demings about DeSantis not holding statewide briefings on the virus and signing the legislation out of the special session that limited local public health powers if you can also respond to that.
One of my colleagues may also be in touch soon with a more Florida-specific story in the coming days. Deadline for this story is COB.
Pushaw responded to the inquiry by asking why The Washington Post, a national newspaper, was focusing so much attention on COVID-19 cases in the south — specifically Florida — when other states were seeing dramatic, even record-shattering, case surges.
Pushaw’s response was as follows:
Any particular reason for the focus on the South rather than the record-breaking surges in NYC and CA? After all, Washington Post is a national publication, and it’s probably worth reporting that the parts of the country with strict mask mandates and vaccine passports are experiencing the same or worse surges than the open areas of the country.
Copying DOH comms to send you info on omicron in FL.
Kind regards,
Christina Pushaw
“Of the top 10 states (including DC) with highest infection rates right now, 7 are run by Democrats. Florida isn’t even in the top 10,” author Eddie Scarry noted in response to Pushaw’s tweet.
Fox Radio host Trey Radel joked, “All good here. Let’s check in on Florida.”
“All good here. Let’s check in on Florida.” pic.twitter.com/xC6p9Q20DJ
— Trey Radel (@treyradel) December 30, 2021
“Yep, New York City alone accounted for 4,000 more cases yesterday than Florida,” Kyle Lamb, a researcher for DeSantis’ communications team added. “Florida is 2.5x the population of NYC. New York currently has almost 2.5x the rate of people hospitalized than Florida (33 per 100,000 to 14). But Florida…”
The state of New York reported over 67,000 new cases on Wednesday, smashing the previous single-day record. Florida also reached a new single-day record on Wednesday, recording 46,923 new cases according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). COVID-19 cases have tripled in Louisiana over the last two weeks, and Maryland also reported a record number of new cases — 10,873 — on Wednesday.
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