DeSantis: Florida will not impose the use of masks on children 0:47
(CNN) -
The Biden administration sent hundreds of respirators to Florida in recent days, as the state responds to a dramatic new increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, a Department of Health and Services official confirmed to CNN. Humans.
But Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis says he is not aware of the shipment.
A health administration official confirms that the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) shipped 200 ventilators and 100 high-flow nasal cannula kits to the state of Florida "earlier this week." .
The SNS sends teams when it receives requests from the states and their health departments, according to the official.
Florida leads US hospitalizations 4:31
Despite that, DeSantis told reporters Tuesday that he was not aware of the request for the medical supplies.
"I would honestly doubt that is true, but I will look it up because we have a lot of material that we have stored over the last year and a half through the Department of Emergency Management," DeSantis said when asked by a reporter about a request from the state for the additional supplies. .
He continued: "I have not received any requests on my desk. I have not been notified of that. But they are in contact with the hospitals, I am personally in contact with the CEOs of many of the major hospitals."
DeSantis' office told CNN Wednesday that the request did not go through their office.
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"The first time I had heard of it was when that reporter asked him. I can also confirm that no one in the Governor's Executive Office was involved or aware of the request," said Christina Pushaw, DeSantis press secretary.
NBC News first reported the shipment of equipment to Florida.
Florida reported 134,506 new COVID-19 cases in the past week on Friday, more than in any other seven-day period during the pandemic.
And the average number of new cases per day in Florida for the past two weeks is 107% higher than the previous two-week period, according to data Monday from Johns Hopkins University.
Democrats, including Biden, have lashed out at DeSantis in recent days after the governor issued an executive order directing the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Department of Health to issue emergency rules that give parents the power to choose whether their children wear masks or not in class, something the president called "bad health policy."
Later, DeSantis defended his decree and struck back at Biden, saying, "I am the governor who answers to the people of Florida, not the bureaucrats of Washington."
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The governor also issued a warning to Biden on Tuesday after the president said his administration was studying whether it had the presidential authority to intervene in the matter.
DeSantis said any intervention by the federal government "would be very inappropriate."
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Tuesday criticized DeSantis, who is widely viewed as a 2024 hopeful for president, after the governor's office said a day earlier that the state board of education could proceed. to withhold the salaries of superintendents and members of the school board who do not respect its decree.
Florida could withhold the salaries of officials who issue mask-wearing orders in schools, the governor's office said
Biden's top adviser told CNN's Anderson Cooper on "AC360" that the governor should "get out of the way of educators who want to keep their children safe."
Klain also confirmed that the administration is looking for ways to possibly compensate any official who loses his salary if DeSantis follows up on his threat to withhold the salary of people promoting mask mandates in schools.
The move would be a significant escalation in the back and forth between the White House and DeSantis over their response to the latest raises.
Covid-19 Florida Ron DeSantis