Man dressed as “death” lurks on Florida beach to protest reopening

In an unusual way, a local activist decided to warn the public of the danger they are in exposing themselves and others to the risk of contracting Covid-19 by visiting newly opened beaches.

The “death” went viral on social media after Daniel Uhlfelder; A lawyer and advocate of public access to beaches, put on a hood and brandished a scythe in an attempt to alert people from Florida of the dangers of reopening their economy too soon.

Florida Governor Ron de Santis announced Friday that the state parks will reopen soon; even as the coronavirus pandemic continues and death itself haunts the beaches of the Sunshine state.

Florida resident Uhlfelder, who is unhappy with the governor’s decision, decided to protest the move in a peculiar way. He appeared on one of the Walton County beaches and, instead of a swimsuit, he put on a much darker outfit with a serious message.

“I wish I didn’t have to do this but nobody else is doing it”

When the recording of a remote interview with a television reporter at Miramar Beach in Walton County went viral, Uhlfelder told CNN:“We aren’t at the point now where we have enough testing, enough data, enough preparation for what’s going to be coming to our state from all over the world from this pandemic.”

“I know how beautiful and attractive our beaches are. But if we don’t take measures to control things, this virus is going to get really, really out of control.”

“People are gonna get hurt and that’s what I’m here for. I wish I didn’t have to do this but nobody else is doing it,” said Uhlfelder.

According to Johns Hopkins University researchers, there have been more than 1.1 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US and more than 65,000 deaths. There have been almost 35,000 cases in Florida, and just over 1,300 deaths.

The states of the USA are dealing with how and how quickly to reopen their closed economies. Republican governors generally move faster than Democrats.

Uhlfelder hopes to use his protest to gain donations to Democrats running for Congress.

Florida Governor defends his position

For his part, Ron de Santis, a Republican, defended the reopening of some beaches, citing a controversial study by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that, according to him, showed that sunlight, heat and humidity (abundant in Florida) they can kill Covid-19.

“The DHS study said that sunlight rapidly killed the virus in aerosols, and it said that outdoor daytime environments are lower risk for transmission of the virus than indoor environments,” DeSantis said.

“In terms of surfaces, when a virus may be left on a surface [the] DHS study concluded that sunlight kills the virus quickly, and that the virus is less stable overall at higher temperatures and higher humidity.”

The study came in for criticism last week, when Donald Trump told a White House briefing he thought the virus could be treated with sunlight.

DHS has said the study is preliminary and is being peer-reviewed.

https://twitter.com/DWUhlfelderLaw/status/1256293755247824896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw