Dressed in Tyvek suits and accompanied by the Grim Reaper, protesters piled up 17 body bags on the steps of Florida’s Old State Capitol building Tuesday morning.
The protest was organized by progressive grassroots group Indivisible, which is urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to stop endangering the lives of his constituents as the state reopens in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
Signs visible at the protest read “A corpse is not a customer,” “Needed more than hand washing,” and “Trump lies people die.”
Similar protests were also staged at the capitol buildings in Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona.
Tonight Rachel Maddow covered Indivisibles from Arizona, Florida and Texas who had a message for their Governors about reopening their states before they were ready and putting lives at risk. Watch here –> pic.twitter.com/vHSlBpjWtY
— Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) May 13, 2020
The group isn’t the first to symbolically invoke Death as a form of protest. Earlier this month, Santa Rosa Beach attorney Daniel Uhlfelder dressed as the Grim Reaper in protest of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to allow the state's beaches to begin reopening.
As of Wednesday, Florida added 479 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the overall total to 42,402. The state also added 49 new deaths, bringing that number to 1,898. According to the Tampa Bay Times, only 2.8% of Florida’s overall population has been tested for COVID-19.
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This article appears in May 7-13, 2020.