Florida Gov. spreads dangerous misinformation about who's dying from coronavirus
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) faced backlash on Thursday after he falsely claimed that no one in the U.S. under the age of 25 had died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“This particular pandemic is one where, I don’t think, nationwide there’s been one single fatality under 25, for whatever reason, it just doesn’t seem to threaten, you know, kids,” DeSantis told educators during a meeting about distance learning amid the pandemic.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on its website that one infant and four people aged between 15 to 24 are confirmed to have died from the disease in the U.S. The deaths of a 6-week-old in Hartford, Connecticut, and an infant in Illinois, have also been linked to COVID-19.
Check out the video here:
The Governor of Florida — at a #COVID19 education meeting — just falsely claimed there have been no deaths nationwide of people under 25 "for whatever reason."
"The data has been 100% consistent."
"I've not seen any deviation on that."
In reality, there have been hundreds. pic.twitter.com/56UTMuniHD— Kevin Cate (@KevinCate) April 9, 2020
DeSantis has previously been scorned for initially refusing to implement a statewide lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. On Wednesday, he wore one glove during a presser and touched his face and clasped his hands together, essentially negating any protection the glove may have given him.
This time, DeSantis was criticized for spreading misinformation about who is dying from the disease and appearing to downplay the threat that the virus (which does pose a greater risk to older people) could have on the young:
@GovRonDeSantis Did you know that two newborns have died of COVID? And many young people from teens on up have died. Where the hell do you get your information? You already blew it with your unreal statement about not being contagious if you're asymptomatic. You should resign.
— Linda DiStefano (@lindadi1) April 9, 2020
Today’s #COVID19 news briefing will be at 3:00 PM. Watch it on the @floridachannel at https://t.co/ov30ov599d. pic.twitter.com/z3MogIQk6T
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 9, 2020
Our idiot governor @GovRonDeSantis is at it again and wants to send our kids back to school because he says no one under 25 has died from the corona virus!!! I just can’t anymore with this ignorant.......🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠🦠 https://t.co/nKr8BkyZRS
— Laura Marie (@mariamar625) April 10, 2020
Ron DeSantis said no one in this country under 25 has been killed by the coronavirus. It is true the virus does not attack the young in equal measure, but it has killed those as young as infants. Governor, you are either a peddler of false claims or uneducated. Either is bad.
— Bryan Looker (@bryan_looker) April 10, 2020
The Governor of Florida — at a #COVID19 education meeting — just falsely claimed there have been no deaths nationwide of people under 25 "for whatever reason."
"The data has been 100% consistent."
"I've not seen any deviation on that."
In reality, there have been hundreds. pic.twitter.com/56UTMuniHD— Kevin Cate (@KevinCate) April 9, 2020
Florida‘s @GovRonDeSantis: "For whatever reason... there have no deaths under 25 — The data has been 100% consistent."
This is, of course, completely false. pic.twitter.com/5Gd8pinukR— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 10, 2020
Related: Coronavirus in the United States
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
