Protesters interrupt OneBlood CEO, who is Sunny Isles mayor, too. Watch his response
At a COVID-19 press conference held at blood donation company OneBlood’s Orlando headquarters, a group of protesters yelled out to Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“You’re lying to the public!” they yelled. “Shame on you!”
The protesters were promptly escorted out but remained at the facility, banging on the windows and shouting.
DeSantis has drawn scrutiny for his response to the novel coronavirus, as Florida’s high case numbers and deaths become a lesson for other states in discussing how to best tamp down the spread of the deadly disease.
The noise from the protesters outside distracted from the prepared remarks given at the press conference, including comments from OneBlood President and Sunny Isles Beach Mayor George “Bud” Scholl.
Scholl look out at the protesters behind the glass and said: “Well, I hope they never need convalescent plasma.”
OneBlood spokeswoman Susan Forbes said the comment was “clearly said in jest.”
“There was a lot of chaos happening outside the window and their remarks were preventing him from communicating an important message,” she said. “That was all there was to it. He meant absolutely nothing by that comment.”
The press conference was held to urge Floridians who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate blood. Scholl said there is a 500% increase in demand from hospitals for convalescent plasma to use in treating COVID-19 patients through plasma therapy.
Plasma therapy is an experimental practice that uses blood taken from people who have recovered from a viral infection and injects it into those who are still sick. The treatment has been used in patients during recent infectious outbreaks like Ebola, SARS and H1N1 influenza.
OneBlood collects convalescent plasma donations seven days a week and screens interested donors to make sure they qualify.
Scholl did not respond to a direct call from a Miami Herald reporter. Scholl had served on the board of the Community Blood Centers of Florida since 2000, organizing a merger of the three largest blood centers in the southeastern United States to form OneBlood in 2012. It is the main supplier of blood to hospitals from Key West to the Panhandle.
OneBlood is the second largest not-for-profit independent blood center in the country. According to the organization’s Form 990, OneBlood pays Scholl $639,322 in salary and $47,773 in other compensation annually.
The company came under scrutiny in 2012 after an Orlando Sentinel investigation found that Scholl and other top executives charged lavish meals, limousine rides and alcohol on the nonprofit’s dime.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 2:40 PM.