coronavirus

‘Shame on You': Protester Confronts Florida Gov. DeSantis Over Virus Surge

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A South Florida man who interrupted Gov. Ron DeSantis during a news conference says he's been frustrated with how the coronavirus has been handled in the state and Miami-Dade County.

Thomas Kennedy, a North Miami Beach resident and coordinator for the youth organization United We Dream, said it was kind of a spontaneous decision to come down to Jackson Memorial Hospital Monday for DeSantis' briefing alongside county Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

"I heard that this press conference was happening, and I'm outraged at what's happening in Florida right now," Kennedy told NBC 6.

The governor, who was in South Florida to announce that he is sending more medical personnel to Miami-Dade and is trying help speed up test results for symptomatic people, seemed to ignore Kennedy as he was confronting him.

"Shame on you, you are an embarrassment," Kennedy says to DeSantis. " ... We are getting record-breaking cases every day and you are doing nothing."

Kennedy, who later posted the video he took at the briefing to Twitter, tells DeSantis that he should resign.

He later told NBC 6 felt like the decision making has been politically motivated.

"I live in this state. I live in Miami-Dade County," Kennedy said. "I don't feel that Governor DeSantis or Mayor Gimenez have my best interest in mind or the interests of other fellow Floridians ... I feel like they closed everything too late and they reopened too early, and as the result, people are dying, frankly. Businesses are struggling. We could have been through this already."

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