Latino Leaders Demand Apology From Florida Governor After Blaming COVID Spikes On Latino Laborers
Update June 24, 2020, 5:21 p.m. PST: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is overseeing one of the strongest COVID-19 peaks in the U.S. The Sunshine State has set records for COVID-19 infections and he recently blamed Latino laborers. Latino leaders are demanding an apology for the comments.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being criticized for his COVID-19 response and comments.
Florida’s coronavirus outbreak is one of the worst in the nation. The response has put millions of Floridians at risk of contracting the virus. The state has set daily records for the most daily infections on a state level several times over. Gov. DeSantis blamed “Hispanic laborers” and leaders demand an apology.
“It’s absolutely embarrassing, appalling,” state Rep. Javier Fernández said during a news call Monday. Rep. Fernández went on to say that we are in a dark time in politics when something like this is allowed to happen. A coalition of 50 groups sent Gov. DeSantis a letter in April asking for more testing in the rural communities in Florida.
According to NBC News, Natascha Otero-Santiago, vice president of the Democratic Hispanic Caucus of Florida, is calling on Gov. DeSantis to come forward with his sources for the claims of “Hispanic laborers” being the leading cause for COVID-19 spikes across the state.
Original: Florida is experiencing a troubling increase in COVID-19 cases. The state sent a new record with more than 3,800 new cases in a day. The state, which has quickly reopened without ever completely shutting down, is concerning health experts in the U.S. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is putting the blame on one community.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is blaming the Latino community for Florida’s COVID-19 spike.
During a press conference in Tallahassee, Gov. DeSantis blamed the increase of COVID-19 cases on “overwhelmingly Hispanic” laborers. He then used language that otherized the laborers to create fearful rhetoric about them bringing the virus with them.
“Some of these guys go to work in a school bus, and they are all just packed there like sardines, going across Palm Beach County or some of these other places, and there’s all these opportunities to have transmission,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Tallahassee.
Florida was one of the first states to push for a rapid reopening against guidelines from health experts.
Florida never went into full lockdown. The state made national headlines as beach closure, during Spring Break, we left up to the individual counties. This allowed for people to flood Florida beaches and bars despite the growing risk of COVID-19 infections.
The governor is facing a lot of backlash for his scapegoating after what many perceive as a failure in leadership.
According to the Miami Herald, Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried fired back as Gov. DeSantis to correct the record. Fried stated that the migrant workers Gov. DeSantis blamed have left Florida after harvest weeks ago. Fried also pointed out that the outbreaks are concentrated in non-agriculture communities.
Floridians are calling on Gov. DeSantis to do better to protect public health.
COVID-19 numbers are increasing in several states in the U.S. Florida is among the most severe spikes with record-breaking numbers of infections daily. Experts continue to warn of the ongoing threat COVID-19 poses in the U.S. stressing the use of facial coverings and social distancing.
