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The president of a major teachers’ union gave a mea culpa Thursday, a day after she was outraged for saying that the Florida governor’s “ignorance” would result in the deaths of millions of people.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, denounced Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign for selling merchandise that said “Don’t Fauci my Florida.”
“You are probably right… I shouldn’t have said millions”, Weingarten said in a tweet Thursday, after the backlash.
“I should have said DeSantis was wrong to do that,” she added. “Fauci is an extraordinary public servant. We must not make fun of him. But I shouldn’t get into that kind of hyperbole. My fault.”
Weingarten’s original statement came in a tweet on Wednesday where she shared a Washington Post article titled “DeSantis Sells ‘Don’t Fauci My Florida’ Products As New Coronavirus Cases Near Highest In The Country.”
DeSantis, a Republican who is running for re-election next year, is seen as part of the mix for his party’s presidential nomination in 2024. The campaign offered the Fauci merchandise for sale alongside other items, including included a beverage cooler slip that shows an image of DeSantis offering cheers with a beer bottle along with his quote, “How am I going to drink a beer with a mask on?”
“Disgusting”, Weingarten said wednesday when she shared the article.
“Millions of Floridians will die for Ron DeSantis’ ignorance and he chooses to take advantage of it. He doesn’t care about Floridians; he cares about advancing his own cruel agenda, ”she said.
Coronavirus cases have increased in Florida in recent weeks, according to figures from the state Department of Health. Florida’s positivity rate fell from 3.4% the week ending June 4 to 7.8% the week ending July 2, according to the data.
New cases were down in the spring and early June, but fell from 10,463 to 23,697 in the week ending June 11 to the week ending July 2.
DeSantis has resisted COVID-19 restrictions, such as mask warrants. In April, he banned vaccine passports in Florida, a move that put the state in conflict with the cruise ship industry and the requirement to show proof of vaccination.
The governor’s press secretary spoke about Weingarten’s situation in a tweet of its own.
“The COVID death rate in Florida is lower than the national average, and unlike the governor of New York, we are not faking the numbers,” said Christina Pushaw.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has been accused of underestimating COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, and a new report noted New York publishes a lower death toll than that reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The New York Department of Health responded that it is publicly reporting all confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in an online tracker, and reporting all deaths, including unconfirmed cases, to the federal government.
“Meanwhile, Randi Weingarten has ruined the education of millions of children by preventing them from going to school for more than a year on the basis of a conspiracy theory.
In a follow-up tweet, she said the conspiracy theory was that Florida had underreported COVID cases to protect the DeSantis administration.
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