‘Grim Reaper’ demands Trump, DeSantis get serious about COVID-19
Miami, US, June 20 (efe-epa).- A lawyer dressed as the Grim Reaper arrived at the United States president’s golf resort in Miami-Dade country on Saturday to protest the Republican leader and his Florida governor political ally’s handling of the coronavirus epidemic and demand that they get serious about it.
Holding a scythe in his hand and representing death, Daniel Uhlfelder has been traveling the beaches in northwest Florida to rally against what he described as Donald Trump’s and Ron DeSantis’ “premature” reopening of the state, before arriving in the southeast, the hotspot of COVID-19 infections in the state, where a record-breaking number of cases in the last two weeks have taken the total to nearly 94,000.
Uhlfelder told EFE outside the Trump National Doral Miami resort that “the Grim Reaper’s purpose here is coming to make sure that (there is) awareness of this virus, it is a deadly virus.”
“We want our leadership and people to take it more seriously so that the Grim Reaper doesn’t have to continue to travel till this day to remind people, because they aren’t getting the message,” he added.
Uhlfelder criticized what he called Trump’s and DeSantis’ “failed” management of the epidemic, and said that cases in Florida have skyrocketed in recent weeks and that the state is emerging as the epicenter of COVID-19 in the country because “our leaders are not doing the right thing.”
In the eyes of the attorney, Trump and DeSantis were forcing people to risk their lives to earn money to feed their family and pay bills.
Trump has been “spreading out the wrong message, he’s giving out false information of the virus since the get-go, and it’s killing people,” Uhlfelder added.
He also criticized DeSantis for the “absolute failure” of the system with regard to the payment of unemployment benefits in the state, which he said has been flawed since its inception, and the irregularities in federal assistance for small businesses, which he believes has benefited “big companies and banks.”
He also warned that the daily rate of positive cases in Florida had climbed to 12.36 percent.
According to official data, 93,397 confirmed cases and 3,144 deaths were recorded in the state between Mar. 1 and Saturday, while another website, which also cites official figures, says that cases have already exceeded 101,000, with 3,237 deaths.
The alternative website, with more data and updated more frequently, is run by Rebekah Jones, who created the official Florida website and claims she was fired for questioning the government’s lack of transparency.
Meanwhile, confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US reached 2,251,205 on Saturday along with 119,654 deaths, according to the independent count of the Johns Hopkins University. EFE-EPA
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