Mexicans and Hippies Did it! GOP Gov’s in No Lockdown States Cry the Blues as COVID Rates Soar

Guardian: As new coronavirus cases surge across several southern states, Republican governors are looking to apportion blame – and resting upon some familiar targets.

In Florida, migrant Hispanic farm and construction workers are driving the huge uptick in Covid-19 infections, according to Governor Ron DeSantis, who has repeatedly identified the immigrant workforce as the “No 1” source of outbreaks in the Sunshine state.

Day laborers contracting the disease are “overwhelmingly Hispanic”, DeSantis said, and migrant in nature, adding that he had given a “heads-up” to health authorities in Georgia and Alabama about “what might be coming down the pike”.

DeSantis’s racially charged comments have been blasted as “shameful” by agricultural workers’ union leaders, who say the state has been lethargic in providing tests and resources to slow the spread. On Saturday, daily new cases in Florida surpassed 4,000 for the first time.

Meanwhile in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has been accused of being “very Trumpian” for pinning blame for his state’s own record numbers on younger residents not wearing masks and refusing to keep social distance.