A Florida county school board voted on Wednesday to require students, staff and visitors to wear masks inside its schools, directly conflicting with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) stance that schools should not impose mask mandates.
The School Board of Broward County held a special meeting on Wednesday where members voted to require indoor masking inside schools, social distancing protocol inside classrooms and seating capacity limits on school buses that would be implemented at the beginning of the school year, which starts in August.
According to WLRN, the move was made due to school board member’s concerns over a rising number of COVID-19 cases in South Florida and in light of guidance recently issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that recommends even the fully vaccinated again wear masks inside in COVID-19 hotspots.
“I really wanted to start this school year as normal as possible,” school board member Lori Alhadeff said on Wednesday, according to WLRN. “And a few weeks ago, I thought that we were in a position to go back to school without wearing masks and giving parents a choice.”
“But now with COVID soaring, and the delta variant, a lot has changed,” Alhadeff said.
The news outlet said that school board members would revisit the mask mandate around Labor Day.
DeSantis, a possible 2024 presidential challenger, has come out against mask mandates in schools, saying during a COVID-19 roundtable on Monday that “Our view is that this should absolutely not be imposed. It should not be mandated,” WPTV reported.
DeSantis said that the state’s legislature could hold a special session on the issue to “provide protections for parents and kids who just want to breathe freely,” according to WPTV.
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Florida county to require masks in schools, defying DeSantis https://t.co/mxYPjQyYoi pic.twitter.com/ObXN4VBT8g
— The Hill (@thehill) July 29, 2021
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