UNDER YOUR NOSE

Ron DeSantis Didn’t Know the Feds Were Sending Ventilators to Florida

Asked by a reporter about a shipment of 300 ventilators, DeSantis questioned whether the claim was true, though many had already arrived.

The federal government sent hundreds of ventilators to Florida earlier this week as the state grapples with a massive wave of new coronavirus infections that has overwhelmed its hospitals. Though many of the 300 machines from the Strategic National Stockpile have already arrived, Gov. Ron DeSantis did not know about it. Asked by a reporter about the shipment Tuesday, DeSantis said, “I would honestly doubt that that’s true, but I’ll look because we have a lot of stuff that we stockpiled over the last year and a half through the Department of Emergency Management. I’ve not had any requests across my desk. I have not been notified of that. But they are in contact with the hospitals, I’m personally in contact with CEOs of a lot of the major hospitals.” A spokesperson for DeSantis’ office told CNN, “The first he had heard of it was that reporter's question to him. I can also confirm that no one in the Executive Office of the Governor was involved or aware of the request.”