DeSantis: It’s safe to hug with PPE on

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Tuesday that it was safe for visitors to nursing homes to hug family members as long as they used personal protective equipment (PPE), contradicting medical experts.

“Do not only fixate on testing … look, I’m comfortable with the PPE,” DeSantis said during a Tuesday roundtable discussion. “Hell, hug ’em, I mean, come on. If you have PPE on and you hug and don’t sneeze or do something on them, you’re going to be fine … obviously, if you’re there for 30 minutes doing that and then you do, well then that’s going to be a different situation.

“I kind of feel like to stay six feet away, it’s kind of still, you know, providing the reminder that it’s still not normal … so I do think the touch is important,” he added.

Adrian Burrowes, a family medicine doctor, told CNN “This is a very serious topic we’re talking about … I haven’t seen my mother in five months and sat down with her, so I understand the emotion associated with that.

“That being said, I believe comments like the one that Gov. DeSantis gave are reckless and irresponsible,” he added. “The reality is there is no evidence that shows that what he’s saying is the right thing to do. We do have to work in trying to get our families back together with our vulnerable elderly, but to say we should be able to do those things with PPE on, with no evidence, is not appropriate.”

Florida has experienced a major spike in novel coronavirus cases in recent weeks, reporting 7,650 new cases and 120 new deaths Thursday. A total of 7,747 Floridians have died from the virus and a total of 510,389 residents of the state have been infected. Thursday deaths are below the single-day record of 253 reported last Thursday, the third consecutive single-day high.