Despite concerns of health experts about the spread of COVID-19, Florida high school athletes will be playing football in just weeks.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) stunned the community when he joked about the decision, saying that if teams wore antifa protest “uniforms,” critics would shut up about the risky move.
The state’s high school athletic board voted Friday to begin football and other sports practices Aug. 24 — and games less than two weeks later. The board’s own panel of medical experts warned against the decision, and urged that practices should not begin at least until Sept. 28 because of the risk of COVID-19, The Associated Press reported.
“Until this virus is given the respect it deserves to quiet down, introducing sports adds fuel to the fire,” warned Dr. Jennifer Maynard, head of the athletic board’s medical advisory committee.
A high school in Georgia where photos of packed hallways made headlines closed after 35 students and teachers tested positive. The first cases reported by the school were football players who had been practicing together.
Florida is one of the nation’s COVID-19 hot spots. The state reported 6,300 new cases and 204 deaths Friday. Florida has more than 560,000 confirmed cases and a total of 9,300 deaths from COVID-19 since March.
Rubio shrugged off concerns about spreading COVID-19 among children at schools in his state. He quipped that people would be fine with teens suiting up for football if teams made a “few equipment & uniform changes” so athletes resembled antifa protesters. The dig was that large gatherings are apparently acceptable to many for protests — but not on a playing field featuring teenage athletes.
Rubio got sacked on Twitter for making light of a potentially fatal danger.