Paul Krugman lays bare how much Ron DeSantis cost Florida

Gov. Ron DeSantis has won praise for guiding Florida through the coronavirus pandemic, but economist Paul Krugman revealed his inaction against COVID-19 has cost his state tens of thousands of lives and tens of billions of dollars.

The Florida governor has become a Republican favorite for refusing to implement measures to prevent the pandemic's spread, but Krugman analyzed the data and found a massive failure in leadership.

"I've been doing some number-crunching on Florida, which has become the poster child for red-state Covid disaster," Krugman tweeted. "Not only does it top the nation in hospitalizations per capita, but it's far bigger than the other disaster states."

DeSantis has been claiming credit for the state's economy, but Krugman argued that his policy has already cost Florida -- and could torpedo its chances for the near future.

"How well will that economy hold up as potential visitors realize that the Sunshine state has become extremely dangerous and its hospital system is in overload crisis?" Krugman tweeted. "But leaving that aside, a good economy isn't much comfort if you're dead."

Florida is currently losing, on average, nearly 58 people a day to COVID-19, compared to around six for New York -- and those excess deaths are costing the state and bringing misery to families.

"The standard valuation of a human life — based on revealed individual preferences — is $10 million," Krugman tweeted. "So FL should have been willing to pay $400 million a day to avoid these deaths."

Florida's gross domestic product is $1.1 trillion a year, or $3 billion a day, Krugman pointed out.

"So if you put a dollar value on it, DeSantis's anti-mask, anti-Vax policies are costing his state the equivalent of 13% of its GDP," Krugman tweeted. "Winning the pandemic!"