From The News Service of Florida:
Everyone knows that Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, likes to tell tales and that some of them might have a North Dakota-sized dollop of exaggeration in them. But when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, missed a father-son speaking engagement Wednesday, the elder Gaetz told reporters that Matt had come down with highly contagious whooping cough.
“The bad news is, Matt has whooping cough,” the senator told students from the FSU master’s program in Applied American Politics and Policy. “The good news is, Matt is quarantined.”
Don Gaetz went on to explain that his son was not waylaid — Matt was “doing lots of legal work for his clients, because he can still bill, even though he can’t cough on you.” He also said his son apparently caught the disease from Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo, who confirmed this week that he had been diagnosed with whooping cough, also known as pertussis or “the 100-day cough.”
But the thing is, Papa Gaetz was getting ahead of the story.
Matt Gaetz tweeted Friday that test results showed he does not have the disease.
“Whooping Cough tests are negative. Special thx 2 Okaloosa Health Dept. Many apologies @RepCurbelo. Quarantine lifted!” the younger Gaetz tweeted.