(Marco Bello/Reuters)The impact of the pandemic in Florida “is significantly greater than the official COVID-19 data suggest,” the researchers wrote. There were 400,000 excess deaths across the United States in 2020, a spike closely correlated to the coronavirus pandemic. (In August, the state said coronavirus deaths no longer required certification from a medical examiner.) Donald Trump, who railed against restrictions even as his own government implemented them, is now a resident of Florida; DeSantis is a political disciple of Trump with presidential ambitions of his own. By contrast, most of the counties where COVID-19 death underreporting was especially high — Franklin, Wakulla, Taylor and Sumter — are Republican strongholds.
