One Goal, One Voice? DeSantis and Fried go their separate ways with separate COVID video campaigns

Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried announced a series of consumer awareness campaigns intending to unite Floridians in response to COVID-19 in a press conference Monday.

In a “nonpartisan, bilingual, multi-channel awareness campaign,” Be SMART Florida is a campaign that stands for “Social distance, Mask up, Avoid crowds, Remember to wash or sanitize hands, and Throw away disposable items like masks, gloves, and wipes,” a press release on the campaign said.

Although Fried said that the campaign has been planned for weeks, the announcement comes days after Gov. Ron DeSantis released his own call-to-action video called “One Goal, One Florida.”

His initiative asks Floridians to protect vulnerable populations, practice proper hygiene, practice social distancing, and wear a mask.

Fried has been vocal in her opposition with DeSantis’s handling of Florida’s COVID-19 response, and said that her frustration with the governor’s response is one of the factors that led to the new consumer awareness campaign.

In the press conference, she said that her campaign differs from his by being “multidimensional, multi-channel, from PSA announcements to videos.”

“I would certainly welcome the governor to create one of these videos himself so that we are speaking in one voice,” Fried said in response to a reporter’s question at the press conference.

Sunday, State Rep Randy Fine announced on a Facebook post that he was being hospitalized for COVID-19, Florida Today reported.

Fine is a Republican representing parts of Brevard County and one of three Florida lawmakers who have recently tested positive for COVID-19. He is the first to be hospitalized.