FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis has blamed the rise in coronavirus cases on “overwhelmingly Hispanic” day laborers and agriculture workers. In a Tuesday news conference, the Republican governor slammed the confined living and working conditions of the farm workers, according to WFOR-TV. Speaking to reporters in Tallahassee, Desantis said: “Some of these guys go to work […]
FLORIDA Gov. Ron DeSantis has blamed the rise in coronavirus cases on “overwhelmingly Hispanic” day laborers and agriculture workers.
In a Tuesday news conference, the Republican governor slammed the confined living and working conditions of the farm workers, according to WFOR-TV.
Speaking to reporters in Tallahassee, Desantis said: “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.”
He explained that the increase in COVID-19 cases were connected to migrant camps, a watermelon farm, and Immokalee, a major hub for tomato production, according to the report.
In response to his controversial statement, Farmworker Association of Florida’s executive director, Antonio Tovar, criticized Desantis for allegedly ignoring calls for help from a coalition of 50 groups in April.
In an interview with The News Service of Florida, Tovar said: “We sent this letter to the governor more than two months ago and now he is realizing that foreign workers are more suitable to get infected.
“That is very shameful because he was advised, he was told when we sent the letter.”
DeSantis’ spokeswoman Helen Aguirre Ferre said the governor previously labeled areas of agriculture production as a vulnerable area for the spread of coronavirus.
In a Wednesday email, she wrote: “For months, Governor DeSantis has been speaking about the importance of proactively testing in areas of high risk, such as agriculture areas where migrant/farm workers tend to live and travel in confined spaces that are conducive to the spread of this disease.”
Despite Desantis’ warnings about high-risk areas, Tovar said a language barrier has prohibited farm workers in Florida from learning about coronavirus
“There’s a lot of information in English, but what about Spanish? There is not,” Tovar told the News Service.
“So, that is why we decided to do it ourselves.”
Department of Healthy spokesman, Alberto Moscoso, said face coverings were handed out and coronavirus “testing opportunities” were set up to help “strengthen and foster relationships” with farming communities.
But Tovar said some resources were received “too late” and after COVID-19 spread through the Southwest Florida farming community.
Silvia Perez with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, has condemned Desantis’ comments as hurtful to the Immokalee workers.
She has been working for months educating farmworkers’ neighborhoods about testing and virus information.
“Our community is very small so when a worker loses their life, the community notices and comes together to raise money to help send the worker back to their home country,” Perez said.
“When you hear those comments, it’s like … Wow, why does he not value us?”
On Thursday, Florida discovered a record 3,207 new coronavirus cases – the biggest single-day increase the state has seen, data from the Department of Health shows.
Just two months ago, Gov DeSantis declared the state had “flattened the curve,” the Sun-Sentinel reported.
DeSantis said on Tuesday the recent rise in cases was anticipated.
He said the increase was due to more testing, rather than a spike, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
Florida’s record increase comes as COVID-19 cases across the South have surged – spiking fears that there may be a new nationwide lockdown.
Desantis’ “hispanic” comments come as Florida has “all the markings to be the next COVID epicenter,” according to a new model, as multiple hospitals run out of ICU beds.
The projection from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on Wednesday said that Florida “has all the makings of the next large epicenter,” as was first reported by CNN.
The model warned that “the risk there is the worst it has ever been in our projections.”
