Governor Ron DeSantis sparks outrage for joking that Florida is 'God's waiting room' for dying senior citizens with one in four of the state's COVID deaths linked to nursing homes

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Sunday said his state was ‘God’s waiting room’ and ‘ground zero’ for coronavirus deaths given the large senior citizen population in the Sunshine State.

DeSantis made the remark during a briefing on the state’s response to the coronavirus in Orlando on Sunday.

‘Florida is ground zero for the nursing home, we're God's waiting room,’ the governor said.

‘We have a huge number of facilities, a huge number of residents.’

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Governor Ron DeSantis was criticized online on Sunday after joking that Florida was 'God's waiting room.' He made the remark during a coronavirus briefing in Orlando on Sunday (above)

‘God’s waiting room’ is a reference to an old joke about Florida being a favored destination for retirees.

While the 2020 census has yet to be conducted, Florida estimates that the state population is 21.23 million people.

Of those, some 4.46 million are 65 years or older.

Florida is also one of nine states that does not tax income.Florida is one of the most popular destinations for seniors given the relatively warm year-round climate.

Still, the use of the term ‘God’s waiting room’ in reference to seniors struck some as inappropriate given the high number of nursing home deaths during the coronavirus pandemic.

‘This is a shameful statement,’ tweeted one Twitter user. ‘What a lack of decency.

‘The elderly have so much to offer. Their wisdom alone is a gift.’

Another Twitter user referred to DeSantis as a ‘POS’ – the acronym for ‘piece of s***’ – and said he should be held responsible for every senior citizen that dies in Florida.

‘This is an awful thing to say, especially now,’ tweeted another Twitter user.

Another Twitter user wrote that the Florida State House ‘has to be Satan’s waiting room for heartless governors.’

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It is estimated that one in four deaths in Florida from COVID-19 is linked to a nursing home or assisted living facility. The above image shows a patient being loaded into an ambulance from the Freedom Square Seminole Nursing Pavilion in Seminole, Florida, on April 17

‘I wonder what Florida’s seniors think about this,’ tweeted another Twitter user.

One Twitter user defended DeSantis, saying the governor was just joking.

‘If you're a [Republican], you're not allowed to have a personality, apparently,’ they tweeted.

Florida on Friday became one of just 10 states with more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19.

The state has more deaths per capital than larger states like California or Texas.

Around one in four deaths from COVID-19 in the state were linked to either a nursing home, assisted living home, or other long-term care facilities, according to The News-Press of Fort Myers.

Florida has also surpassed 30,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

DeSantis asserted on Sunday that parts of the state are now ‘on the other side’ of the coronavirus outbreak, and said he would soon announce whether he would lift edicts that shuttered much of the state’s economy because of the pandemic.

DeSantis' comment sparked outraged online, with one Twitter user calling him a 'heartless governor'

'I wonder what Florida's seniors will think about this,' tweeted one Twitter user

Another Twitter user said DeSantis would be 'responsible for every single senior citizen that dies in Florida'

DeSantis made a 'shameful' statement and he 'lacked decency,' according to another Twitter user

'This is an awful thing to say, especially now,' said one Twitter user

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One Twitter user defended the governor, saying the media misinterpreted his comment

In a news briefing at an Orlando medical center, the governor again noted the ‘hysteria’ in the early weeks of the outbreak has not materialized in Florida, despite dire predictions that speculated many more deaths than the state has recorded so far.

As of Sunday, the state had more than 31,500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 AND more than 1,070 deaths.

With his safer-at-home order set to expire Thursday, the governor said he’d be taking key actions in the coming days as he reviews recommendations from a task force he convened to guide him in his decision-making. DeSantis said that reopening the state would be done methodically to prevent a resurgence of the outbreak.

In recent weeks, the governor has tried to boost public confidence in his handling of the crisis, and to assure a restless public the state might soon be able to reopen under the right circumstances.

During his weekend briefings, the governor did not devote much to time to discussing the work of the task force, which convened through telephone conferences last week.

The panel was due to issue recommendations possibly over the weekend.

If it reached a set of recommendations, it was unclear when such a document would be made public.

In making his decision to reopen the state, DeSantis said he would be hewing closely to White House guidance, which advocates a multi-phase approach. The criteria includes downward trends in infections and a diminished risk of a resurgence.

DeSantis said people should be reassured knowing infections have not risen as predicted and hospitals have comfortably managed the caseload.‘Even if you could flip the switch, if people don’t have confidence, then the economy is not just going to take off. It’s not the way it works,’ DeSantis said Sunday.

The governor mentioned central Florida in particular, which includes cities like Orlando and its world-known amusement parks, as a region that is now emerging ‘on the other side’ of the virus outbreak.

DeSantis said long-term facilities have been a priority in trying to head off further infections.

State officials said 366 such facilities have had confirmed cases of COVID-19, accounting for more than 2,900 infections among residents and staff - resulting in more than 300 deaths.

Since the beginning of the crisis, he said, the Florida Division of Emergency Management has distributed nearly 7 million masks, 1 million gloves and 500,000 face shields to long-term care facilities and nursing homes.

But he again pushed back at critics who said he was slow to move on putting social-distancing restrictions in place.

‘Florida has performed better than anyone predicted,’ the governor said.

‘People should be comforted in knowing that all those predictions of hundreds of thousands of people hospitalized were not accurate, and it has just not been the case so that’s a good thing.’

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and those with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and even death.