On Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) told students at a university event they could remove their masks if they wanted to do so. Since then, the nets have taken to blasting the Governor like he assaulted the children despite the fact that the CDC guidelines have been updated, finally, to reflect the science.
DeSantis was visiting the University of South Florida to announce funds for education in cybersecurity. DeSantis told students behind the podium that they could take off their face masks.
“You do not have to wear those masks,” Governor DeSantis said. “I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything and we’ve gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is, this is ridiculous.”
Ron DeSantis to USF students:
"You do not have to wear those masks. Please take them off. Honestly, it's not doing anything. We've gotta stop with this Covid theater. So if you wanna wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous." pic.twitter.com/FKjyeg9loQ
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) March 2, 2022
The governor also announced on Tuesday that Florida’s surgeon general has released new guidelines for Florida employees to give them freedom from mask requirements, as The Daily Wire reported.
“Simply relying on outdated CDC guidance when the experience has completely undercut that is not really a reasonable thing to do at this point,” DeSantis said in a Tuesday video on Twitter.
“A 9 to 5 job should not be a N-95 job,” the governor said.
Florida businesses need to stop relying on outdated CDC forced masking of worker requirements. @FLSurgeonGen Ladapo has put out new guidance for Florida workers liberating them from 8 hour forced mask workdays.
A 9 to 5 job should not be a N-95 job. pic.twitter.com/QeLo2hUfJk
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 2, 2022
DeSantis specifically discussed workers in the service and hospitality sectors.
“Every time I go to these places, I’ll be in these big events and you have all these people having such a good time and the poor servers are forced to mask and I will ask them, ‘Are you allowed to take the mask off?’ They say not yet,” he shared.
“They’re all waiting for it. They all want to be liberated. They want to be treated normally,” DeSantis added.
The White House is relaxing its mask mandate in time for President Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, according to a memo sent to staff on Monday. It’s no coincidence that mandates were finally updated in time for the midterm elections.
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.