Gavin Newsom says he would have ‘done everything differently’ in COVID response

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a new interview with NBC that he would have done “everything differently” in responding to the coronavirus pandemic, looking back.

Newsom, a prime Democratic rival of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Florida response to COVID-19, pointed to how the virus spreads “differently” outdoors compared to indoors.

“We would have done everything differently because we would understand – outdoors as an example,” he said.

The NBC host chimed in, suggesting outdoor methods of learning, to which Newsom hesitated.

“I think the nature of the spread early on, and understanding epidemiology of that spread – understanding the spread in the context of how it spread very differently indoors [versus] outdoors,” Newsom said.

“[That’s] one perfect example, what a lot of us would have done differently – including, again in red states that shut down their beaches in the early part of the pandemic,” he said.

Newsom also said that leaders would have had a “deeper understanding” of mask-wearing as well.

“You go through a process across the spectrum in terms of being prepared, issues related to how we fundamentally address the distribution of vaccines and the prioritization,” he said.

“You want to talk about prioritization early on in terms of those vaccines, you go through a series of things, and there’s so many things we could have done differently.”

DeSantis and his administration have been balking at renewed calls for lockdowns, masking and other COVID-19 policies.

“Now we’re in a situation where you start to see around the country kids being kept out of school, like Kentucky had a school closure over COVID.” DeSantis said at a press conference dedicated to the topic last week. “No. We are not letting you get away with it again.”

DeSantis pointed to Florida’s protections against COVID-19 mandate policies such as forced masking, as areas across the U.S. increasingly call for similar measures again.

“We’ve been sure that this is a free state […] We stood for people’s children and businesses, and the ability to earn a living,” the governor said.

“And so they are trying to do this again. And what we in the state of Florida will say is no, we are not letting you get away with it again.”