Pandering to conservatives in Florida, 42-year-old Gov. Ron DeSantis issued his mask ban order July 30, declaring that Florida’s school age children cannot be required to wear masks. DeSantis has bucked the national trend under Covid-19 restrictions for the past years, pretending the Florida residents are immune to the deadly novel coronavirus, disputing White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] guidelines when it comes to social distancing and mask wearing. DeSantis’ July 30 order brought cheers from certain conservatives but little else, knowing that Florida’s incidence of coronavirus infections under DeSantis’ lax guidelines have been higher than most states, despite all the warnings from the White House and CDC. Leon County Judge John C. Cooper lifted his stay on last weeks ruling saying that state education officials could enforce mandates in public schools.
DeSantis, who’s rumored at a 2024 president run, has made all the wrong moves with Democrats and independent voters, pandering only to the slim-and-shrinking GOP voter rolls, knowing, in future elections, that extreme candidates won’t have a prayer in winning national office. Cooper said DeSantis has not made a coherent case to not wear masks, agreeing with parent and teachers’ groups that cites at least some science that indicates that masks afford some protection against the deadly novel coronavirus and some of the highly contagious variants, including Delta, lamda and mu variants. Watching a surge in Covid cases in Florida, especially in recently reopened schools, prompted Cooer to take action against DeSantis’ illogical mask ban. Cooper pointed out that children under 12 are not yet approved for vaccines, leaving themselves especially vulnerable to Covid infections.
DeSantis’ July 30 order required school superintendents to enforce the mask ban in public schools. “We’re not in normal times. We are in a pandemic,” Cooper said at a remotely held hearing. “We have a [coronavirus] variant that is more infectious and dangerous to children than the one we had last years,” Cooper said, lifting his stay to allow all school officials to stop enforcing DeStantis’ July 30 ban. When it comes to the Covid-19 global pandemic, the virus has morphed so many times, it’s clear that, as Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says, the virus is here to stay, at least for now. Expectations that the with the vaccines the U.S. could achieve herd immunity does not look like it’s happening. Too many people think like DeSantis that if you pretend the virus has gone away, then it will disappear. Florida’s over-flowing hospitals and emergency rooms say otherwise.
When it comes to children and school teachers, the more protections against infection the better, especially with schools returning to in-class instruction. DeSantis’ July 30 edict against masks in schools goes down as one of the most irresponsible, demagogic attempts to make a mockery of the novel coronavirus crisis. Judge Cooper said “we’re not in normal times” but the new normal is wearing masks and taking any other public health precaution as a mitigation measure. When it comes to the highly contagious new variants, the White House, CDC and FDA can’t keep pace with new infection rates or knowing what to do next. When it comes to booster shots, the White House, CDC and FDA can’t agree on guidelines to have the vaccine makers figure out what to do to boost neutralizing antibodies to defend against new more contagious variants swirling in the population.
DeSantis thinks he’s pandering to his base but he’s destroying the credibility of the GOP to deal with the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Despite advances in treatments and vaccines, the public continues to get infected at alarming rates. DeSantis knows that Florida is responsible for the health of 2.8 million public school students. Ordering school officials to enforce in mask ban has been and outrageous abuse of power, knowing DeSantis is a politician not a public health expert. Politicians must defer to the public health experts, not try to play like they know what’s best. If Florida’s 2.8 million students require masks, then that’s the price of going to school in a global pandemic. DeSantis isn’t in a position to know whether masks help-or-harm Florida’s school-age population. What DeSantis knows for sure is that the public in general is fed up with jumping through Covid-19 hoops.
DeSantis shouldn’t play politics with the Covid-19 crisis, especially knowing that Florida, because of its lax policies, is under the gun when it comes to new cases and more hospital and ICU visits. Cooper’s lifting to the stay allowing school officials to require masks of all of Florida’s 2.8 million public school children makes perfect sense while the White House, CDC and FDA figure out the next moves to combat the coronavirus crisis. Vaccine makers are working feverishly on new, more effective booster shots, while figuring out how best to deal with new variants. When it comes to school-aged children, school teachers and support personnel, there’s simply no reason to take extra risks. Whatever benefits to wearing masks, it’s an extra layer of protection against the virus. Cooper did the right thing lifting DeSantis’ ban on mask wearing in the schools, seeing no reason to continue the ban.
