Florida Democrat blames Ron DeSantis, Fox News for state’s COVID surge

Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared on CNN Newsroom With Pamela Brown on Sunday where she pointed the finger directly at Governor Ron DeSantis and Fox News for the recent surge in new COVID-19 cases in her state. Florida currently accounts for roughly 20 percent of new COVID cases in the U.S.

“We have to make sure that we’re stopping the spread of misinformation,” Wasserman Schultz said, “like is spreading rampant on Facebook, some of which is propagated by Ron DeSantis himself, and Fox News, which he spends a lot of time on.”

Fox News hosts regularly discourage their audience from getting vaccinated, and DeSantis has gone so far as to pass laws prohibiting local jurisdictions from imposing COVID restrictions, and is selling anti-vaccine merchandise, like T-shirts that read “Don’t Fauci My Florida.”

“I would rather see us Fauci our Florida than have people go through death by DeSantis, and that's what we're facing now,” Wasserman Schultz said. “He actually had a law passed in Florida to prohibit local governments from being able to enact measures like mask requirements and social distancing to keep people safe. You just can't make this stuff up. So that's where the blame lies, at his feet.”

Video Transcript

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: What I think explains high infection rates is that we have a governor who has not taken COVID seriously from the very beginning. You know, he's essentially, right now, treating it like a joke.

- Democratic representative from Florida Debbie Wasserman Schultz appeared on CNN Newsroom with Pamela Brown Sunday, where she blamed Governor Ron DeSantis for the recent surge of COVID cases in the state, which are roughly 20% of all new cases in the US. DeSantis recently passed a law making COVID restrictions illegal.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We actually had a law passed in Florida to prohibit local governments from being able to enact measures, like mask requirements and social distancing, to keep people safe. You just can't make this stuff up. So that's who's-- where the blame lies, at his feet.

- Wasserman Schultz also pointed the finger at misinformation on Facebook and Fox News, where primetime hosts regularly discourage their audience from getting vaccinated.

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We have to make sure that we're stopping the spread of disinformation like is spreading rampant on Facebook, some of which is propagated by Ron DeSantis himself and Fox News, which he spends a lot of time on.

- And Wasserman Schultz addressed Governor DeSantis selling anti-vaccine and anti-restriction merchandise, like t-shirts that read, "Don't Fauci My Florida".

DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I would rather see us Fauci our Florida than have people go through death by DeSantis, and that's what we're facing right now. All he has to do is exercise his leadership and use his bully pulpit to encourage people to get vaccinated. He's been vaccinated.