More conspiracy theorists guiding Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ COVID-19 policy | Opinion

Gov. Ron DeSantis tries to act like science is on his side in the decisions he makes. Last month he referred to people advocating for school closures due to COVID-19 as “the flat earthers of our day,” arguing they based their opinions on emotion rather than data.

But DeSantis has repeatedly shown that he only listens to scientists who support a hands-off approach to the pandemic — and if they won’t provide the needed narrative, someone with absolutely no public health expertise will do.

Kyle Lamb — “a little-known sports blogger who moonlights as an anti-masker,” as the Washington Post described him — announced recently that the DeSantis administration hired him to conduct COVID-19 research.

Lamb is not a doctor, epidemiologist or any kind of scientist, and admits that he is no coronavirus expert. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he provides commentary about Ohio State University football while also spinning COVID-19 conspiracy theories.

The Tampa Bay Times went through Lamb’s frequent posts on Twitter and sports message boards, finding that he has downplayed the deadliness of COVID-19, questioned the use of masks, promoted the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and made other claims contradicted by scientific evidence.

Lamb was driving for Uber before the DeSantis administration tapped him for a $40,000-per-year job with the state’s Office of Policy and Budget. A spokesman for the governor told the Times that Lamb wouldn’t focus exclusively on COVID-19 and any analysis he conducts would “pass through about 10 hands” before reaching DeSantis.

One wonders who exactly will be checking his work. The governor has been getting advice in recent months from Scott Atlas, who became a favorite of Donald Trump through Fox News appearances in which Atlas promoted the controversial strategy known as “herd immunity” in which the coronavirus is allowed to spread to build up resistance in the population.

Atlas is no expert in infectious diseases: He’s a neuroradiologist affiliated with Stanford University’s conservative Hoover Institution. Similarly, public health experts weren’t the ones given special access to COVID-19 death certificates in Florida, which have been withheld from public view for months.

Instead they were mysteriously allowed to be reviewed for a few hours at Florida’s Capitol by Jennifer and Len Cabrera — who hold degrees in electrical engineering and economics, respectively, and run the conservative Alachua Chronicle website. They subsequently wrote a piece questioning the COVID-19 death toll, which was then shared on social media by DeSantis’ spokesman as part of efforts to justify the governor’s laissez-faire approach to the pandemic.

Certainly I’m no public health expert either, which is why I rely on the consensus of such experts on the best ways to fight COVID-19. Thankfully our country just elected someone to the presidency who says he will base decisions on such expertise.

Unfortunately we still have a couple more months with a president who only listens to scientists who agree with him — and even longer with a governor who takes the same approach.

Nathan Crabbe is opinion and engagement editor of the Gainesville Sun .

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