• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being ridiculed on Twitter over comments he made regarding Home Depot, Walmart, and school reopenings.
  • “I’m confident if you can do Home Depot, if you can do Walmart, if you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools,” DeSantis said.
  • He cited his desire to “minimize this education gap that I think has developed” because of the coronavirus.
  • Twitter users were quick say that the experience of sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day is dissimilar from making a Home Depot run.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been roasted for drawing a comparison between reopening public K-12 schools and allowing consumers to shop at essential retailers like Home Depot and Walmart.

DeSantis made his comments at a press conference in Jacksonville, Florida, where he appeared alongside US Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia. In his remarks, the governor pressed for public schools to reopen.

“Different parents have different calculations,” DeSantis said. “If a parent wants to opt for virtual education, they should absolutely be able to do that. We shouldn’t be forcing them to do any types of decisions.”

DeSantis went on to compare reopening schools to allowing consumers to continue shopping at essential retailers.

"But I'm confident if you can do Home Depot, if you can do Walmart, if you can do these things, we absolutely can do the schools," he said. "I want our kids to be able to minimize this education gap that I think has developed."

DeSantis also said the risk posed by COVID-19 is much lower for children than for older people. But Twitter onlookers immediately jumped in to say that the Republican governor's parallel lacked logic.

https://twitter.com/OmariJHardy/status/1281310909990940672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The governor's office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

DeSantis has forcefully pushed for the reopening of public schools in August.

In a 143-slide PowerPoint presentation arguing for the reopening of schools, the governor's administration said, "Florida can only hit its economic stride if schools are open."

The governor - an ally of President Donald Trump - has previously come under scrutiny for his state's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

In March, he waited to close beaches crowded with spring-break revelers and subsequently refused to shut the state down until April 1. Florida's statewide stay-at-home order lifted at the end of April. Since then, DeSantis has frequently expressed his eagerness to reopen Florida's economy, even as COVID-19 cases have spiked in his state over the summer.