DeSantis says he’s unaware of Florida’s request for 300 ventilators from federal government

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he was doubtful about the report that the state’s health department requested an additional 300 ventilators from the federal government.

The Republican expressed this doubt on Wednesday when asked about the report, which was first published in ABC News affiliate Local 10.

“I would honestly doubt that that’s true, but I’ll look. We have a lot of stuff that we stockpiled over the last year and a half through the department of emergency management,” Mr DeSantis said.

”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,” he added.

But an HHS spokesperson confirmed that 200 ventilators and 100 breathing devices were being sent to the state from the Strategic National Stockpile after that amount was approved last week, Local 10 first reported.

A spokesperson with the state’s Department of Health added that they were working with the federal government on getting necessary medical equipment for patients with Covid-19.

“The department routinely works with the federal government to ensure adequate resources are available and ready to be distributed at all times, as done with this recent request,” Weesam Khoury, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health, told The Hill.

The White House questioned why the Florida governor would be against the federal government sending more Covid-19 medical equipment.

“As a policy, we don’t send ventilators to states without their interest in receiving the ventilators. I think the most important question here is why would you oppose receiving the ventilators when clearly you need those in your state given the percentage of hospitalisations that are occurring?” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

Florida has experienced a record number of people being hospitalised with Covid-19 in recent days.

On Tuesday, 14,787 people were hospitalised with the novel virus, which was 145 per cent more than the state’s initial pandemic peak in June 2020, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Nearly 90 per cent of the state’s ICU beds were filled and 85 per cent of all patient beds were filled, the group added.

Democrats have been critical of the DeSantis administration throughout the pandemic due to concerns of relaxed Covid-19 guidance.

Mr DeSantis signed an executive order last month that would prohibit schools from mandating mask wearing among students and staff. After it was revealed that several school districts would move forward with mask mandates, the governor’s office announced that superintendents and school board members could face losing their salary if the mandates continued.

The Biden administration has announced it would look into assisting Florida schools by compensating administrators who lose their salary by implementing mask mandates.

But Mr DeSantis has pushed back, saying: “I’m the governor who answers to the people of Florida, not to bureaucrats in Washington.”