Instead, county health offices are local bureaus of the state department, funded through a mix of state and county revenues. That means that the state health department -- and ultimately DeSantis -- have even more direct power to shape the public health messaging and pandemic response affecting the state. Starting that day, the state health department almost completely stopped sending tweets mentioning the virus. Experts felt 'ghosted' by DeSantisThroughout the pandemic, DeSantis followed the President's lead on another issue: the experts he's listening to. During an initial conference call, health department officials were receptive to the idea, said Thomas Unnasch, an infectious disease expert at USF.

Source: CNN December 18, 2020 01:52 UTC