Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis urged citizens against attending “packed” religious gatherings ahead of the upcoming Christian and Jewish holidays.
DeSantis said during a roundtable event on Monday that Floridians should remember to maintain social distance as religious festivities approach in April. It comes after the governor issued a stay-at-home order last week that exempted “essential” activities including religious gatherings, reported The Hill.
“We want people during this to be spiritually together, but to remain socially distant,” DeSantis said. “Please keep God close, but please keep COVID-19 away,” he added, referring to the disease the CCP virus causes.
DeSantis said that religious leaders in the state were contacted to discuss the activities they plan to hold during the upcoming religious holidays.
“I think that that will ultimately be something that matters a lot to people, but we also pointed out the risks of having, you know, a packed gathering right now given what we’re going through,” DeSantis said.
The Florida governor pointed to a funeral in Georgia as an example of the dangers of large gatherings amid the CCP virus pandemic.
“They had a big funeral and that really spread throughout the folks there, so it would be a potential to have a super spreader, and that would eventually have really serious health consequences to folks,” DeSantis said.
He also pointed to activities that some places of worship have adopted to maintain social distance, such as online church services and outdoor services where people remain in their cars.
The stay-at-home order is effective from April 3 until April 30, but may be extended depending on the situation with the CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.