Most businesses have been forced to close down temporarily during the coronavirus pandemic; the exception, of course, is for essential services: hospitals, grocery stores, banks. And per Florida’s governor, that includes pro wrestling!
In case you didn’t remember Ron DeSantis from the 2018 elections, he’s the guy who did the ridiculous campaign ad showing him teaching his toddler daughter to love Donald Trump; they built a wall to keep Mexicans out with toy blocks. Yeah, that guy.
His sucking up to Trump did the trick, winning him the election by a landslide 1% of the vote. But it was enough that Florida has to deal with this guy in charge during the biggest health crisis of most of our lifetimes.
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In an April 9 memo, Governor DeSantis deemed the WWE, which is based in Orlando, to be an essential business, declaring:
“Employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience — including athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production — only if the location is closed to the general public.”
Phew! At least they know not to let huge crowds gather to watch the matches live! But even still, there are a lot of people getting close together to make these matches work — two people are getting as close as you can with your clothes on! Well, half your clothes…
Is this really safe?
Well, the WWE, who resumed their live matches on Monday night, released a statement to ESPN, saying:
“We believe it is now more important than ever to provide people with a diversion from these hard times. We are producing content on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance following appropriate guidelines while taking additional precautions to ensure the health and wellness of our performers and staff. As a brand that has been woven into the fabric of society, WWE and its Superstars bring families together and deliver a sense of hope, determination and perseverance.”
The “additional precautions” the WWE have implemented include medical screenings for talent and staff. But obviously they can’t test everyone for coronavirus every time.
Hmm. It still seems like an unnecessary risk to us. We mean, they aren’t providing food or health care. As much as we love a “diversion” by definition diversions are non-essential. Not to mention there are lots of them still being made that don’t require people to gather so closely.
Video: North West Crashes Kim Kardashian’s Social Distancing PSA
This is especially worrying considering the organization just had their first case of COVID-19…
Pro Wrestling Sheet broke the story; a person believed to be on-camera talent — but not a wrestler — was diagnosed recently. The WWE confirmed the story, but in a statement gave reasons why this didn’t affect their decision to continue:
“We believe this matter is low risk to WWE talent and staff, as the individual and a roommate became symptomatic in the days following exposure to two people working in acute health care on the evening of March 26, after WWE’s TV production on a closed set was already complete. The employee had no contact with anyone from WWE since being exposed to those two individuals, is doing well, and made a complete recovery.”
That’s good to hear, but… they just don’t know who has it and who doesn’t! Infected people can remain asymptomatic for several days, that’s what makes this coronavirus so pervasive!
Look, we know this is terrible for businesses right now, but we have to put safety first right now.
But of course, you can’t tell that to Ron DeSantis. This is the guy who didn’t issue a stay at home until April 1 — after Spring Break festivities and AFTER the state already had over 7,700 confirmed cases.
Not only that, he apparently had his own Surgeon General removed from a cabinet meeting after stating the bad news — that we all need to continue practicing social distancing until there’s a vaccine!
This is Florida's Surgeon General being removed from a #COVID19 briefing by @GovRonDeSantis staff right after saying we'll need to social distance until there is a vaccine. https://t.co/3pBOV7dMP5 pic.twitter.com/czp7dTqfdT
— Kevin Cate (@KevinCate) April 13, 2020
Governor DeSantis’ Press Secretary released a statement after the video started to go viral on Monday, claiming the SG was pulled out because he had another meeting to go to:
“Dr. Rivkees was not pulled out of the press conference, which ran longer than expected. He had a pre-scheduled meeting with Governor DeSantis’ Deputy Chief of Staff Adrian Lukis he needed to attend. Afterwards, he went to the State Emergency Operations Center with DEM Director Jared Moskowitz.”
Right. Because people always get pulled out of cabinet meetings with the Governor to meet with the Governor’s Deputy Chief of Staff.
We worry the WWE is being overconfident here — but we’re worried even more for the people of Florida as a whole right now.
The post WWE Deemed ‘Essential’ By Florida Governor — Right After One Of Their Stars Tested Positive For Coronavirus! appeared first on Perez Hilton.