Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wrongly asserted on Thursday that COVID-19 doesn’t pose any danger to people under 25 while he was making a case for having kids go back to school even as the virus continues to spread across the country.
During a press conference, DeSantis claimed there hasn’t been “a single fatality” in that age group from the illness in the U.S. as he was explaining why he was looking at reopening the schools in his state.
“For whatever reason it just doesn’t seem to threaten kids,” the governor said.
DeSantis acknowledged that the coronavirus is dangerous to those who are 65 and over, but argued that that wasn’t the case for young people.
“If you’re younger, it just hasn’t had an impact,” he said. “So that should factor into how we’re viewing this.”
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Friday that there have been 2,572 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among children under 18 from February 12 to April 2. 147 of those cases led to hospitalization, including the ICU, and three children have died from the disease.
Additionally, public health officials have warned that while young Americans are less likely to become seriously ill from the disease, they risk transmitting it to older people and must therefore adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Watch DeSantis below:
Gov. DeSantis wrongly claims there haven't been any COVID-19 deaths among people under 25 in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/bihtWPqDEP
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) April 10, 2020
