3 September 28 - OctOber 4, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | Contents | Letters | news | night+Day | CuLture | Cafe | MusiC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ FLORIDA “MEDICAL FREEDOM” DESANTIS REMAINS MUM ON COVID BOOSTER STATUS. BY ALEX DELUCA D uring a 2021 interview with Fox News, when host Maria Barti- romo asked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis whether he had re- ceived his COVID-19 booster shot, he carefully tiptoed around the question. “So, uh, I’ve done whatever I did, the nor- mal shot,” DeSantis told Bartiromo. “And that, at the end of the day, is people’s individ- ual decisions about what they want to do.” When COVID vaccines first rolled out, the governor seemed to openly back the jab — pushing the “seniors first” strategy, announc- ing that he got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and even declaring that the shots were “saving lives.” But in the years since, as he became a leading vaccine critic and threw his hat in the ring for the Republi- can presidential nomination, he’s gone mum about his vaccination status. His secrecy has prompted questions, and some scrutiny, with Donald Trump calling politicians “gutless” for not revealing their booster status, a not- so-veiled reference to DeSantis. “You gotta say it, whether you had it or not,” Trump said of the vaccine. So Florida’s governor got the “normal” shot (whatever that means). But what about the booster? New Times asked DeSantis’ office, which once again declined to answer the question. “We are not going to discuss the gover- nor’s private medical information,” spokes- person Jeremy Redfern asserted via email. “There is a reason he proposed and signed the strongest medical freedom legislation in the nation.” More than two years ago, DeSantis banned so-called “vaccine passports” at Florida busi- nesses, among other executive orders tamp- ing down on COVID restrictions. In May, DeSantis signed a bill that prohib- its businesses and government agencies from requiring proof of vaccination to enter their premises. The bill also barred employers from firing and refusing to hire workers on the basis of vaccination status. The governor’s stance on vaccination has gone from an initial position espousing per- sonal freedom to an outright belligerence to- ward the idea of booster shots. In recent months, he promoted the concept that CO- VID public health restrictions were a step to- ward “medical authoritarianism.” Earlier this month, he professed that he would “not stand by and let the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots.” Though the circulating strains of COVID are not as deadly as the pathogen once was — thanks in part to vaccination and exposure immunity — the virus still kills thousands of people per month in the United States. Ac- cording to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), COVID has killed more than 40,000 people in 2023. “Thankfully, we’re in a different place with COVID-19 now than we were at the be- ginning of the pandemic, but COVID-19 is here to stay,” the CDC said. “It continues to be a major cause of serious respiratory ill- nesses in the United States, with more than 200,000 deaths (including more than 600 in children and adolescents 0-19 years old) reported since January 2022.” The governor’s refusal to discuss his booster vaccination status comes as his ad- ministration, including Florida Surgeon Gen- eral Joseph Ladapo, carries on with a campaign of promoting vaccine skepticism. Against federal recommendations, DeSan- tis’ administration recently advised Florida residents under age 65 not to get new COVID boosters from Pfizer and Moderna. The advi- sory ignores a recent recommendation from the CDC, which states that anyone who is 6 months and older and hasn’t received a CO- VID shot within the last two months should get a new booster targeting the latest virus subvariant. | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Gov. Ron DeSantis has become a leading critic of the COVID vaccine. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images ▼ MIAMI WITHOUT A TRACE FAMILY DESPERATE FOR ANSWERS ABOUT ARMY VET WHO VANISHED FROM CARNIVAL CRUISE SHIP. BY ALEX DELUCA A s Carnival Cruise’s Conquest rounded out its Labor Day weekend cruise from Miami to the Bahamas, a cellphone video purportedly captured 26-year-old Kevin McGrath shuffling to live music alongside other ship passengers. He retired to his room in the wee morning hours of September 4, according to his sister. But when his family arrived at breakfast ahead of disembarkation that day, he was no- where to be found. “He wasn’t in the room,” his sister, Danielle McGrath, told NBC 6. “No one could find him. No one.” It’s been three weeks since the U.S. Army vet- eran from Port St. Lucie vanished without a trace during the three-day Caribbean cruise. After McGrath’s family reported him missing the morning of September 4, staff and security searched the ship but couldn’t find him. Miami- Dade Police said there was no video surveillance showing that he went overboard, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not en- counter him during the debarkation process at PortMiami. The U.S. Coast Guard scoured 3,300 square nautical miles with helicopters and found no sign of him before suspending its search on September 7. As local police continue to probe the mysteri- ous case, McGrath’s family is desperate to know: Where did he go? McGrath, a U.S. Army veteran who served six years in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, is the father of two young children. He was with dozens of friends and family on the cruise to celebrate his father’s 60th birthday. His family members say that leaving his family without notice would be unlike him. “Something is not right. There’s no way that my brother would just vanish into thin air like this,” Mc- Grath’s sister, who wasn’t aboard the voyage, told CNN. “We want some answers.” The cruise line has since resumed services, a decision criticized by McGrath’s family and some fellow passengers. Jenn Lyles, who purportedly was on the same voyage as McGrath, posted a TikTok video on September 8, claiming Carnival sent out a cus- tomer satisfaction survey about the trip after disembarkation but did not solicit information about McGrath or his disappearance. She said she found it “weird” that she and other passen- gers weren’t alerted. “Is this what happens when you go missing on a cruise ship?” Lyles asked. “They’re not even going to alert the other pas- sengers who might have seen something?” According to Insider, Con- quest has made a handful of voyages since McGrath’s disappearance, includ- ing to Nassau, Bahamas, and Cozumel, Mexico. The outlet notes that while authorities said they had not turned up evidence that McGrath fell off the ship, his disappearance comes after at least a half-dozen people have gone overboard on cruises over the last four months. A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department has not responded to questions about its ongoing investigation. Anyone with information about McGrath’s disappearance is asked to contact Miami-Dade police. [email protected] “THERE’S NO WAY THAT MY BROTHER WOULD JUST VANISH INTO THIN AIR LIKE THIS.” Kevin McGrath was last seen on the Carnival Conquest on September 4. Miami-Dade Police Department
