Fact checking Ron DeSantis’ CNN town hall in New Hampshire

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis participated in a CNN town hall Tuesday in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s upcoming primary.

The GOP presidential contender — who came in second behind former President Donald Trump during Monday’s caucus in Iowa — took questions from New Hampshire voters about a wide range of issues.

Here is a fact check of some of DeSantis’ claims during the town hall.

Florida and the pandemic

DeSantis criticized former President Donald Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and accused him of “turning over the government” to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022. He then claimed it was Florida that “dragged this country out of lockdown,” adding, “We made sure schools were open; we made sure businesses were open.”

Facts First: DeSantis’ claim is misleading at best. Before he became a vocal opponent of pandemic restrictions, DeSantis imposed significant restrictions on individuals, businesses and other entities in Florida in March 2020 and April 2020; some of them extended months later. He did then open up the state, with a gradual phased approach, but he did not keep it open from the start. 

DeSantis received criticism in March 2020 for what some critics perceived as a lax approach to the pandemic, which intensified as Florida beaches were packed during Spring Break. But that month and the month following, DeSantis issued a series of major restrictions.

For example, DeSantis:

• Closed Florida’s schools, first with a short-term closure in March 2020 and then, in April 2020, with a shutdown through the end of the school year. (In June 2020, he announced a plan for schools to reopen for the next school year that began in August. By October 2020, he was publicly denouncing school closures, calling them…