‘Shame on you’: Group hits DeSantis
Protesters attempt to shout down governor during virus update
A small group of protesters tried to shout down Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday during an event in Orlando, the second such outburst in as many weeks as the governor tries to tout his efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic amid alarming increases in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
“Shame on you!” shouted the group of about five protesters upset at DeSantis’ response to the virus. “Thousands of deaths are on your head. … Why are you lying about antibody tests? Why are you lying about unemployment?”
DeSantis tried to speak over the protesters, who were escorted from the Orlando offices of OneBlood, a blood bank. He urged citizens to donate plasma to help replenish supplies after a surge in patients in hospitals around the state sparked in part by the rise in coronavirus hospitalizations.
“Donate your plasma, it’s very, very important,” DeSantis said. “You can make a difference in people’s health and in their lives.”
The event was supposed to be held outside, but imminent rain forced DeSantis and media inside into a small lobby. After protesters were moved outside, they began to bang on the windows and continued shouting, mostly drowning out DeSantis and other speakers.
“I hope none of them need convalescent plasma,” OneBlood CEO Bud Scholl said as he strained to be heard over
the shouts.
The protests outside went on for more than 15 minutes, and at one point another protester inside the lobby began shouting, “Shame on you, DeSantis! Resign now! The deaths of [unintelligible] are on your hands!”
That protester also was removed from the lobby.
Ultimately, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies arrived and moved the protesters away from the windows to the parking lot. A deputy said they got in their cars and drove away, and no arrests were made.
DeSantis continued on with the question-and-answer portion of his news conference, saying that the designated testing lanes for people with COVID-19 symptoms in Orange, Duval, Broward and MiamiDade counties has been successful.
“This may be a model that we expand,” DeSantis said.
The governor also tried to give reasons why the positivity rate or number of cases may not be as high as they appear. He said some negative tests are held by some labs in order to get out positive numbers, leading to higher positivity rates.
He also said cases in which infected people die in incidents such as crashes or suicides should not count as COVID-19 deaths, as is currently the procedure according to Centers for Disease Control guidelines, though he did not specify how many of those cases there were.
The protests were an escalation of last week’s first interruption of a gubernatorial news conference, when a single immigration activist also shouted down DeSantis during an event in Miami.
The incidents are a signal of the increasing pressure DeSantis’ faces as Florida’s cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, increase after he began reopening the state in May following a stay at home order designed to slow the spread of the virus.
There were 10,508 new cases reported Monday, representing a 15% positivity rate and 90 new deaths. Statewide, there were a total of 360,394 infected and 5,072 deaths from COVID-19 in Florida.
The overall toll, including 111 nonresidents, is 5,183. Two new nonresident deaths were reported Monday.
Monday’s update came on the heels of a new weekly record for cases, deaths and tests in Florida.
Statewide, 740 virus deaths were reported from Sunday to Sunday. The previous record, 511 deaths, was set the week ending July 12.
July has already been the deadliest month for coronavirus patients in Central Florida, and the number of cases in Florida nursing homes has more than doubled among both residents and staff.
Nationally, Florida has become an example of what to avoid when it comes to coronavirus response.
On Sunday, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine told NBC that because of rising coronavirus cases, “We are at a crucial stage. We are at the point where we could become Florida.”