A longtime staffer for Florida GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan died of Covid-19 on Friday at a Florida hospital, according to the congressman’s Facebook post.
Buchanan described Gary Tibbetts, who was being treated at Manatee Memorial Hospital since July 15 after testing positive for coronavirus, as a “consummate professional.”
“Gary was the consummate professional and a true public servant in every sense of the word,” Buchanan said on Facebook. “He touched so many lives and was loved and respected by those who knew him. I will never forget his uplifting spirit, sense of humor and sheer joy at helping others.”
Rep. Buchanan’s office had tweeted a statement earlier this month that Tibbetts did not have any recent interactions with anyone else in the office. Tibbetts, a field representative, had worked for Buchanan since 2011.
Florida, in recent weeks, has emerged as a major hotspot of the coronavirus. On Saturday, Florida became the US state with the second-highest official coronavirus case count, passing New York, once the country’s epicenter early in the pandemic.
Florida has reported 414,511 cases since the start of the pandemic, above New York’s 411,200, according to state health agencies.
The number of hospitalizations has increased by 79% since the Fourth of July, data from the state’s health care administration shows.
At least 50 hospital intensive care units in Florida have reached capacity on Saturday, the agency’s data shows.
That as the Sunshine state’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has continued to resist calls – including a recent letter from Florida’s congressional delegation – to consider a mask mandate.
“We’ve advised that’s something that could make an impact,” DeSantis said in June. “At the same time, to do police and put criminal penalties on that is something that probably would backfire.”
CNN’s Chris Cillizza, Madeline Holcombe, and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
