Governors* of United States and their Crisis Leadership
In a follow-up to my previous write-up on Masterclass in Crisis Leadership, let’s take a look at how some of the state governors did in terms of their crisis leadership.
Governor Charlie Baker (Massachusetts)
Early COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts was alarming but signalled a new beginning in the fight. The state’s governor, Charlie Baker, has embarked on a plan that includes full-scale, statewide testing and contact tracing, which will be linked to an effective quarantine-and-treatment system. Massachusetts, the first state in the country to launch its own contact tracing program. It’s a true mobilization: taking on the virus directly, using the five-element anti-pandemic arsenal.
When the plan was presented to Governor Baker, he didn’t say that it was too expensive or too hard or too late.
He said, “We have to do this. We have no choice. It feels like we’re just sitting and waiting. We have to go on offense against the virus.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo (New York)
New York was once the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States with more than 10,000 new cases a day during its peak outbreak in April. More than 400,000 New Yorkers have been infected by the virus since the pandemic began and at least 32,463 people have died in the state.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo instituted some of the strictest reopening requirements in the country, insisting that stay-at-home orders remain in place and many businesses remain closed far longer than states that are now seeing surges such as Texas and Florida.
“We know that, when you do it properly, you bring down those cases. We have done it. We have done it in New York”
New York got hit worse than any place in the world. And they did it correctly by doing all right things in this pandemic
Likewise, other north eastern states’ governors Governor Phil Murphy (New Jersey), Governor Ned Lamont (Connecticut), Gina Raimondo (Rhode Island) have showed the leadership and empathy on people and acted well on it.
This has resulted in only these handful of United States are in green and on track to contain COVID
Governor Brian Kemp (Georgia)
For six weeks, Georgia had been a model, especially for those eager to end shutdowns. Among the last U.S. states to lock down, Georgia in April was first to widely reopen, after just three weeks. Ninety-one thousand lives snatched by this unrelenting pandemic since this first state in the US reopened on April 24. The shut down on March 16 actually worked.
Then Georgia Massaged Data to Reopen — Critics said the state misrepresented its data to justify the move, and they predicted disaster. While Kemp ordered the reopening, his administration began presenting data in a way that made the state appear healthier than it was. The technique involved backdating new cases to the time of first symptoms or taking a test, instead of reporting them as they were reported to the state, like Georgia had previously done — and like most states do.
After massaging the data to reopen soon, In just 15 days in July the total number of #COVID19 cases in Georgia is up 49%, but one wouldn’t know it from looking at the state’s data visualization map of cases. The first map is July 2. The second is today. Do you see a 50% case increase? Can you spot how they’re hiding it?
Kemp’s health department keeps changing the numbers on the map’s color legend to keep counties from getting darker blue or red. 2,961 cases was Red on July 2. Now a county needs 3,769 cases to show red. The result: an infographic that hides data instead of showing it.
Even as surge becomes unignorable, Kemp stays the course by manipulating data and now voided mask orders.
Kemp sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the city to stop enforcement of the local mandate, aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The governor argued that the city lacks the authority to override his order encouraging but not requiring face coverings.
Georgia — A model case for an aggressive reopening tumbles into crisis
Governor Ron DeSantis (Florida)
With Florida a global epicenter, Florida elected a loyal Trump ally Ron DeSantis and his handling of the pandemic couldn’t possibly have been worse.
But only in Florida did the governor appear on TV and have a full-blown whine-fest in May because he wasn’t getting enough credit for keeping cases lower in Florida than New York. DeSantis spoke too soon and opened his state much too fast. Florida is now the one of the global epicenters of this virus and it’s not getting better anytime soon. Every day since July 10 the state has averaged more than 10,000 new cases per day.
Just as Trump refuses to listen to experts, Desantis shoved aside his scientists and stopped public health briefings altogether. He refutes the models if they don’t suit his purpose and spins the data to sound better than it is. DeSantis is manipulating the data and then using it to justify his stupidity. When he gets called out on it at his press conferences he goes into spin mode. Some of the state’s top experts have left in the middle of the crisis including Rebekah Jones the state data manager.
Florida — long a national running joke since the 2000 presidential election debacle — with DeSantis leadership took hit after hit for the handling of the coronavirus that made it the new epicenter of the pandemic.
Governor Greg Abbott (Texas)
A singular figure in Texas’ coronavirus response, Gov. Greg Abbott leads a state headed in an alarming direction. Ever-changing, sometimes serially confusing top-down guidance. Facing down a public health emergency, the governor has more than once reversed himself, making virus mitigation decisions that some say came too late and others say should not have been made at all.
If the virus has presented a leadership test, Abbott’s metrics are getting worse. COVID-19 has already killed at least 3,013 Texans and is spreading rapidly, infecting new people and filling hospitals with the sick.
In a public health crisis, government at all levels has a role to play: federal health agencies issuing guidance; states wrangling data; mayors and city councils communicating with their constituencies.
The coronavirus pandemic has proved a leadership test like no other for the governor Abbott. He holds nearly all power over the state’s response as it careens toward crisis.
FL, GA, TX, AZ, CA all opened too soon are suffering. Specifically most contact businesses like Salons, Bars, Indoor seating restaurants, etc. It turned into people going to bars, overcrowded restaurants, hair & nail salons, throwing huge packed parties, political rallies, religious services and pretty much everything you can do to provide the virus with an optimum environment for spreading. Also people refusing to wear masks. Believe in Science & Data and the progressive governors who cares about people not headlines. As anyone with half a functioning brain cell could have predicted, the whole thing blew up.
The belief, cognitive intelligence, working memory capacity and many more
Around half of Americans with a high school diploma or less education (48%) believe that “powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak,” according to Pew Research Study, and notes “educational attainment is especially important when it comes to perceptions of conspiracy theories.”
The more conservative / Republican you’re to believe the “conspiracy theories” Conservative Republicans are especially likely to see at least some truth in the theory:
Even moderate republicans are not to believe. Eg Governor of Massachusetts — Moderate Republican believed in Science. Republican governors Kemp, DeSantis, Abbott, Ducey and all probably believed in “conspiracy theories” not SCIENCE.
*limited to some Northeast States and Southern States
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