Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Wasserman Schultz criticizes Trump, DeSantis’ handling of the outbreak.
Instead suggests hand-washing as virus prevention
When congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz arrived for a political organizing meeting Monday morning, she eschewed hugs and handshakes, choosing instead to bump elbows with people volunteering for Joe Biden’s Florida campaign.
Last week, French authorities recommended that people stop shaking hands to help curb the spread of coronavirus. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez last week went even further, suggesting that people give up shaking hands the typical Miami way saying hello: kissing.
Is Wasserman Schultz taking cues from the French or Miami-Dade’s Republican mayor? No.
She said she advocates frequent hand-washing but said she wasn’t prepared to give up handshakes and hugs.
“I’m the last person that will swear off hugging and handshaking. I’m Jewish. We hug,” she said.
Explaining the elbow bumps to a reporter, she said she’s been sick over the weekend, probably with the flu, “so I’m trying to be respectful of people.”
Critical of DeSantis, Trump
Speaking to reporters after the Biden event, the Broward/Miami-Dade congresswoman was sharply critical of the way both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump have handled coronavirus.
“It’s really disturbing when the first reaction of a leader of a state, or our country, which is the case with DeSantis or Trump, is to keep things quiet and secret, and information on lockdown,” the Broward/ Miami-Dade county Democrat told reporters on Monday.
The president has consistently downplayed the impact of coronavirus, and DeSantis hadn’t taken an active, public role on the issue until last week. Over the weekend, the state said there were two coronavirus cases in Florida and the governor declared a public health emergency. On Monday he’s holding news conferences in the state’s largest media markets.
Wasserman Schultz said there wasn’t enough early enough.
“The last thing that we need to be doing is keeping information about how people can keep themselves healthy from the public. That’s what public health is all about is all about. Trump’s first reaction and his weird, bizarre, irresponsible reaction over the weekend was to say that Democrats were trying to stoke fear and that there was some kind of hoax, that the coronavirus was some kind of hoax,” she said. “this is no hoax.”
Wasserman Schultz said people need to be confident that the federal and state governments are “making decisions based on science, not based on politics, which is clearly what’s happened with DeSantis and Trump.” DeSantis and Trump are Republicans and close allies.