Twist

Man dressed as Grim Reaper has a grim reminder for Florida beachgoers ignoring the epidemic

By Faith Tap
May 5th, 2020

Stay home. It’s the only way to save lives during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But as we know, people are going to do what they want, even if it means risking their own lives and the lives of others – others that they may never even know they infected.

The state of Florida was among the first to re-open after the nation’s quarantine lockdown, and they chose to do so despite an ever-rising number of cases.

The first thing people did? Flock to the beach.

That was May 2nd. Less than 3 days later, Florida had 36,897 cases and 1,399 fatalities and rising.

There’s no doubt that reopening was premature – every single epidemiological model (as well as good old-fashioned common sense) says that more people will die if people don’t respect quarantine. That’s why Florida lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder is haunting Florida beaches dressed as the Grim Reaper – to remind people just what they’re risking.

Plenty of people won’t care. And it’s clear there’s nothing that can get them to start if they can ignore a life or death matter in favor of some sun and sand.

Nevertheless, Uhlfelder is showing people that their decisions are no day at the beach for the innocent people they might infect.

The virus simply hasn’t made an impact on those who haven’t gotten sick or lost a loved one or seen the long-term damage an infection can do even to the young and healthy. (We won’t even get into the conspiracy theorists, who are unswayed by logic or evidence of any kind.)

What they don’t realize is that it’s very easy to carry germs around, infecting people with a deadly disease while they potentially stay symptom-free.

But they don’t care – and they don’t seem to understand the “public” aspect of public health. But the fact is that our decisions affect others.

Uhlfelder does care – and his grim reminder might get a few people to think twice before they become a public health nuisance simply because they think they’re entitled to live their lives the way they want even if it means others don’t get to live at all.

Uhlfelder has long been a passionate advocate of the public’s access to beaches, going up against those who seek to privatize sections of it for their own use. But opening beaches during a public health emergency is simply wrong.

“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,” he told CNN.


Carrying a scythe (and wearing a mask with his costume, of course), he visited some of the most crowded beaches that opened prior to the state’s May 4th reopening on what he called a “Grim Reaper Tour.”

“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,” the lawyer told CNN.

Of course, people don’t like to be reminded of their mistakes, so someone tried to have him removed from the beach early on, reportedly because he was “scaring the kids.”

Luckily, that law school training came in handy – he was not arrested. But it appears someone does, in fact, fear the reaper.

Alas, he has every right to be there.

Florida’s governor has chosen his own science in this matter, erroneously claiming the sunlight and warmth will kill the virus. It’s a claim with no science to back it up as of yet, but Floridians have signed themselves up as guinea pigs for that study nevertheless.

Unfortunately, they’ve also signed up everyone they come into contact with too.

Be sure to scroll down below to see the lawyer’s interview with his local ABC News affiliate.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: CNN, WMBB News 13, @DWUhlfelderLaw via Twitter

About the Author
Faith Tap
Faith Tap (FaithTap.com LLC) was launched in 2013 and has the strong belief that inspiring stories have a great impact on the lives of their readers. Our faithful followers agree and have responded by our website showing rapid growth in popularity as our stories have been shared around the world reaching over 30 million users monthly. We strive to be an oasis from negative and controversial news and bring hope and smiles to every person we touch.
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