{"id":85845,"date":"2021-09-23T18:54:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T22:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=85845"},"modified":"2021-09-23T18:54:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T22:54:56","slug":"gov-desantis-appoints-the-best-doc-on-the-block-as-florida-surgeon-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=85845","title":{"rendered":"Gov. DeSantis Appoints the Best Doc on the Block as Florida Surgeon General"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside id=\"gnt_atomsnc\" class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_anc\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-method=\"loadAnc\" aria-label=\"Newsletter signup form\">\n<h1>What we know about Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo<\/h1>\n<p><!--more-->John Kennedy, Capital Bureau<br \/>\nUSA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">One day after Gov. Ron DeSantis <a class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.palmbeachpost.com\/story\/news\/local\/state\/2021\/09\/21\/joseph-ladapo-tapped-to-be-florida-new-surgeon-general\/5798242001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|inline click|${u}\">named him Florida\u2019s top doctor<\/a>, new Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo upended COVID-19 policies in schools \u2013 sparking yet another divide over battling the virus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Ladapo enacted a<a class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flgov.com\/2021\/09\/22\/governor-ron-desantis-announces-new-department-of-health-rule-to-protect-healthy-students-from-forced-quarantining\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|inline click|${u}\"> new rule letting parents<\/a> decide whether their children should quarantine or stay in school if they are asymptomatic after being exposed to someone who has tested positive for Covid-19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It eliminates previous requirements that students quarantine for at least four days off campus, if they\u2019ve been exposed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The move follows the approach of his boss, DeSantis, who has <a class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.palmbeachpost.com\/story\/news\/politics\/state\/2021\/07\/30\/florida-governor-ron-desantis-pledges-block-mask-mandates-schools\/5430397001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|inline click|${u}\">fought local school board <\/a>efforts to require face masks in schools and other safety steps. DeSantis and Ladapo both say they worry about students being kept away from class.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_img gnt_em_img__inset\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/09\/23\/NSHT\/7ee5324e-a2b9-436d-8b6a-0145e5dfd226-surgeongeneralladapo.jpg?width=300&amp;height=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"gnt_em_img_ccw gnt_em_img_ccw__cap gnt_em_img_ccw__crd\" data-c-caption=\"Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo\" data-c-credit=\"John Kennedy\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">Who is Dr. Joseph Ladapo?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Ladapo earned his MD from Harvard Medical School and a PhD in health policy from that university\u2019s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Before coming to Florida, he was associate professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Ladapo has been outspoken on COVID-19, mostly by way of downplaying the benefits of mask-wearing, openly condemning business and school lockdowns, and signing on last year to the Great Barrington Declaration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The declaration was signed by several prominent researchers who advanced herd immunity \u2013 not vaccines or social precautions \u2013 as a way to emerge from the pandemic. DeSantis has invited a few of the Great Barrington leaders to appear with him at COVID-19 roundtables in Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Ladapo also hints that he has problems with the way Dr. Anthony Fauci and others are leading the fight against the virus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cPeople have been taking the science and misrepresenting it,\u201d Ladapo said Tuesday at the Florida Capitol, in remarks aimed at mainstream public health officials setting policy for the nation.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">What is the Florida surgeon general&#8217;s salary?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Dr. Ladapo will be paid $462,000-a-year in dual roles as head of the state&#8217;s Health Department and as a professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">Will Dr. Joseph Ladapo promote COVID vaccines in Florida?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Standing beside DeSantis this week, Ladapo didn\u2019t sound like he would prioritize vaccinations. In Florida, 56% of the population is fully immunized against COVID-19, slightly better than the national average.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In June, Ladapo co-authored an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal titled, \u201cAre Covid Vaccines Riskier Than Advertised?\u201d which questioned the benefits of immunizing children, young adults and people who already had COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Ladapo said getting vaccinated is a personal choice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cThere is nothing special about them compared to any other preventive measure,\u201d he said. \u201cThe great thing about the vaccine\u2026is that it prevents the risk of serious illness. Fantastic. People get to make the choice about what they want to do with that information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">But he said too much focus has been on vaccines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cIt\u2019s been treated almost like a religion, and that\u2019s just senseless,\u201d Ladapo said. \u201cWe support measures to good health. That\u2019s vaccination, losing weight, exercising more, eating more fruits and vegetables, everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">What that new COVID-19 school mask mandate rule did<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">It overturned one of the lawsuits filed by several counties against the state\u2019s prohibition on mask mandates in schools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With the new rule, the Florida Department of Health said the lawsuit no longer applied \u2013 since it was focused on the old rule. An administrative law judge agreed, dismissing the lawsuit by school boards in Alachua, Broward, Miami-Dade, Leon and Orange counties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The fate of other mask lawsuits also could be clouded.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cLimiting districts\u2019 options and blocking them from following CDC guidelines is not in the best interest of the health of our students, employees or families,\u201d said Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, the state\u2019s largest teachers union.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"gnt_ar_b_h2\">What Ladapo says about COVID-19, shutdowns, more<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The new surgeon general has written extensively during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">He was featured in a video last year deleted by social media platforms for COVID-19 misinformation. Under the heading America\u2019s Frontline Doctors, Ladapo was among those promoting President Donald Trump\u2019s once-touted hyrdroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus and dismissing science that cast doubt on the compound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">One of the founders of America&#8217;s Frontline Doctors was arrested during the deadly Jan. 6 pro-Trump uprising at the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In USAToday last year, Ladapo wrote an Op-Ed blasting shutdowns for slowing what he suggested was a goal of herd immunity achieved by more people being exposed or contracting the virus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">With shutdowns, he wrote, \u201cUnfortunately, this also means the rates of \u2018community immunity,\u2019 often referred to as \u2018herd immunity\u2019 will slow. As a result, we will always be vulnerable to the virus spreading rapidly again as soon as shutdown measures are lifted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><em>John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network\u2019s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @JKennedyReport<\/em><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.palmbeachpost.com\/story\/news\/politics\/state\/2021\/09\/23\/floridas-new-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-brings-controversy\/5827502001\/\">https:\/\/www.palmbeachpost.com\/story\/news\/politics\/state\/2021\/09\/23\/floridas-new-surgeon-general-joseph-ladapo-brings-controversy\/5827502001\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What we know about Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}