i m doing well. it s a difficult time. but this is what we do as pastors. we do our best to take care of those who are part of our congregations and that s what we re doing at this time. it s been very difficult for our church. our church has supported vaccinations. we supported to wear masks in our church services. we re socially distanced. every one of the cdc protocols we follow to a t. so it s very difficult to see us come to a place where we are now where we did a vaccination event back in march and did our best to get as many people vaccinated as possible, almost 1,000 people registered, 800 actually showed up and were vaccinated. so we ve been pushing, trying to help people stay safe for the entire time. so the folks that you have lost, can you talk a little bit about the vaccine hesitancy that you have heard from your congregants? what do they say when they explain why they re not getting the shot? there s a myriad of reasons.
way. in the last three weeks, coronavirus cases have gone up 240%. and there is some terrible cases, i was just reading, down in central florida, three first responders died of covid in three days. they were not vaccinated. one was a fireman, one was a police officer one was a are we supposed to wrestle them to the ground and vaccinate them? steve: also in jacksonville at the impact church. this is a terrible story, i just saw this six members of the church died within 10 days. they were all unvaccinated. right after that happened, the church had a vaccination event and 270 people got the shot. so, if you have the chance, get the shot the people who are dying are the unvaccinated. as joe biden said last week you don t have to die if you get the shot. brian: right. ainsley: also in florida ron desantis telling the school boards who were saying remember he was saying we won t have mask mandates four state.
the level of virus in their community. as i understand it, in two weeks there are six members from the same jacksonville church who died from covid. and they were all unvaccinated, the pastor said. and he has a message now. what is he saying? reporter: right. reverend george davis of impact church in jacksonville, florida, four out of the people that died were under the age of 35. and young and healthy people. he knew one of them was 24 years old and had known that person since he was a toddler. he tweeted that he s tired of crying about and burying people he loves. he said please take the political and religious games somewhere else. but there is a lot of political games still being played here in the sunshine state. all you could do was host another vaccination event this weekend. he tried to convince his congregation saying the vaccine is here if you want it. and he believes that faith and science can work together,
35, young and healthy, and now they are gone, this is a huge loss from that church, the pastor said he wants to do more than prayer, you want to take action so the church the vaccination event over the weekend and here s a little bit of what he said to the congregation to try to convince him to get the vaccine. i choose to believe our god is a one that gives us opportunities like this, not to put our trust in the vaccine, we put our trust in jesus. we put our trust in jesus to take care of our hearts but when your heart start going bad you go to the doctor to get it checked out. there s no reason why medical science and faith cannot work together. we absolutely believe they do. faith and science, working together he says, he also tweeted over the weekend, that he s tired of crying about and burying people he loves. erika, he asked that everyone put, take their politics and religion games somewhere else although we are seeing a lot of political games being played here in the sunshin
sick children. one florida doctor says that children s hospitals are overwhelmed while republican governor ron desantis resists calls to allow schools that want to to require masks in their classrooms. cnn has reporters covering all the pandemic developments this morning. reporter: i m natasha chen in orlando. seven-day average of new cases in florida increased 84% over the past two weeks. one church in jacksonville is feeling this acutely. six unvaccinated members of impact church died of covid-19 in the past couple of weeks, four out of six were under the age of 35. the church hosted a vaccination event over the weekend. the bishop reverend george davis said that god is the one giving wisdom to scientists to create the vaccine and that science and faith can work together. he said he s tired of crying about and burying people he loves and to take the political and religious games somewhere else. reporter: i m jim bittermann