Daniel Uhlfelder, a Florida attorney who dressed as the Grim Reaper to shame beachgoers who flocked to the Sunshine State’s sandy shores amid the coronavirus pandemic, has been spotted at what he described as a protest with a “huge” crowd.
“Defuniak springs, Florida. Huge crowd. Stay hopeful and stay strong,” Uhlfelder wrote, providing pictorial proof of his presence at the crowded event:
Uhlfelder recently rose to the spotlight after lambasting Florida beachgoers for heading outside and soaking up the sun during the coronavirus pandemic. He even called it a “matter of life and death.”
“People aren’t getting the message, so I thought, well, what would really make the message of, ‘Hey, we’re prematurely doing this, and it’s a matter of life and death. Let’s take a pause’?” he said, according to People.
“There’s nothing really as direct of a symbol of death as the Grim Reaper, and this virus kills people with real regularity,” he added.
The Santa Rosa Beach lawyer formally announced “The Florida Grim Reaper Tour” in April and used the publicity stunt to raise money for Democrats:
“My goal is to inform people and make them aware that they are living in a global pandemic,” he said in a video featured on Showtime. “I hope I get through to somebody.”
“We’re going to open the beaches, we’re going to open the restaurants, everywhere we’re back to work. Go. Go Florida,” he said sarcastically.
“I don’t think that’s going to work. Maybe the Grim Reaper will be proven wrong,” he added:
Uhlfelder is just one of many individuals who has emphasized the risks of reopening the country prematurely but quickly ignored their own cries to join hundreds — sometimes thousands — of protesters flocking the streets, failing to adhere by social distancing guidelines or the broader call to avoid large gatherings.
An Axios/Ipsos poll released Tuesday showed that 86 percent of Americans consider attending large protests and demonstrations as posing the greatest risk to their health and wellness in terms of resuming everyday activities in the era of the coronavirus.