Florida Lawyer To Visit Beaches Dressed Up As Grim Reaper To Protest ‘Premature’ Opening

A lawyer said he will travel around Florida in a grim reaper costume in response to the "premature" openings in the state. He also previously wore a hazmat suit and a paintball suit in efforts related to COVID-19.

"Many of you have asked if I am willing to travel around Florida wearing Grim Reaper attire to the beaches and other areas of the state opening up prematurely. The answer is absolutely yes," lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder wrote in a tweet. "Beginning May 1 we will hit the road here in state. Please retweet and spread the word."

The lawyer's tweet comes shortly after Jacksonville beaches reopened just weeks after they were closed due to the coronavirus. Although the beaches will only be open for certain hours of the day and coronavirus guidelines will still be in place, crowds reportedly "flooded" the beaches when the police took the barriers down, and only a few of them were wearing masks, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's mask recommendations .

"I felt like something needed to be done, because they're moving very quickly to open beaches prematurely," Uhlfelder told NBC News. "Wearing a Grim Reaper costume seems like a good way to send a signal that this is too fast and that we need to think seriously before we take that step."

This was not the first time Uhlfelder tried to send a message in a unique outfit amid the coronavirus pandemic. Last month, Uhlfelder donned a hazmat suit and visited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's mansion to request the closure of Florida's beaches, but he was denied a meeting, leading him to file a lawsuit to close the beaches.

Also last month, Uhlfelder wore a paintball costume in a bid to promote the importance of social distancing. At the time, a woman told him he was "scaring people."

"I said, 'OK, that's good.' If people are scared, then they'll leave,'" Uhlfelder said. "I want to go back to normal as soon as possible, too, but opening our beaches too early is not the way to do this."

As of Friday (April 24) at 7:27 a.m. EST, the Florida Department of Health has reported a total of 29,648 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 805 of which were non-residents. The state has recorded 987 coronavirus deaths.