Speaking to reporters last Thursday, DeSantis intentionally denied that New York was aiding his state’s Covid-19 response, stating: “They are not helping us.”
“I think someone contacted our office about fans: We have 6,000 just idle, so we don’t need it,” added the governor. “We are working with the federal government on some of the Remdesivir.”
A staff member at New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office had emailed a staff member at DeSantis’ on Wednesday with the topic “Does Florida need Remdesivir?”
That message was sent to a Florida Department of Health staff member who replied, “Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.”
“Feel free to reach out if you need additional information,” said the person.
Cuomo touted attendance in a statement on Friday, saying New York “will deploy Remdesivir to help Florida care for patients while waiting for more supplies from the federal government.”
“We will support our fellow citizens every step of the way as our nation fights together against COVID-19.”
However, DeSantis did not mention Cuomo during a press conference on Saturday, praising Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar for their help in securing remdesivir for Florida.
DeSantis spokeswoman Helen Ferre told CNN on Sunday: “It is not unusual for state health departments to communicate with each other, especially during a pandemic. New York contacted Florida and the Health Department responded appropriately.”
In the past few weeks, the state broke multiple record highs in a single day in new cases and reported another 10,360 new infections on Saturday. About 40 hospitals statewide do not have ICU beds available and more than 7,000 patients are hospitalized statewide with the virus, state data showed on Saturday.
CNN’s Christina Maxouris, Holly Yan, Elizabeth Cohen and Arman Azad contributed to this report.
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