TALLAHASSEE
Fred Piccolo is out as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ communications director and will move over to the state Department of Education to serve as executive vice chancellor of the Florida College System.
Piccolo’s resignation comes amid backlash from 4 a.m. Christmas Eve tweet, in which he downplayed COVID-19 deaths. The tweet drew national headlines and led Piccolo to delete his Twitter account.
His tweet was responding to a photo gallery of COVID-19 victims and healthcare workers. He tweeted: “I’m wondering since 99% [of] Covid patients survive shouldn’t you have 99 photos of survivors for every one fatality? Otherwise you’re just trying to create a narrative that is not reality.”
Read more at our news partner the Miami Herald.