In a press conference yesterday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took time to comment on the upcoming school year by saying school mask mandates and lockdowns will not be happening in Florida.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki called DeSantis’ comments “greatly concerning” and said her kids were used to wearing masks.
“If I were a parent in Florida, that would be greatly concerning to me,” Psaki said.
DeSantis said Florida’s parents and students are looking forward to a normal year without masks and said it might not be healthy for kids to be wearing masks in schools all day long.
“There’s been talk about people potentially advocating at the federal level imposing compulsory masks on kids. We’re not doing that in Florida. We need our kids to be able to be kids. We need our kids to be able to breathe.”
“Parents obviously can equip their kids to go to school however they want, but there shouldn’t be any coercive mandates on our schools,” DeSantis said, warning against a “campaign from Washington to try to change that.”
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to start putting our kids first. We’ve got to look out for their education. Is it really comfortable? Is it really healthy for them to be muzzled and have their breathing obstructed every day in school? I don’t think it is.”
“I’ve got a three-year-old son, and you’ve got people like (Anthony) Fauci saying ‘he should be muzzled and you should be throwing masks on these three-year-old kids.’ It’s totally unacceptable. It’s certainly unacceptable to have any level of government imposing that on parents and on kids.”
DeSantis also mentioned how lockdowns won’t be happening in Florida and criticized the President Joe Biden administration.
“If anyone is calling for lockdowns, you’re not getting that in Florida,” DeSantis said. “To have the government come in and lock anyone down or restrict anybody is totally unacceptable.”
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
