Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mocked new CDC guidelines requiring that Americans wear masks in public if they live in states where the coronavirus is spreading rapidly.
“Did you not get the CDC’s memo? I don’t see you complying,” DeSantis told the mostly unmasked crowd of 450 Republicans at the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, in Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday.
DeSantis said there will be no more lockdowns in Florida and touted the state’s rejection of mask mandates, even though Florida is responsible for 20 percent of the new Covid cases in the country and is considered to be an area with “substantial” or “high” levels of transmission.
He also warned that the CDC’s latest guidance, which also urged every schoolchild to wear a mask, may be the start of further government steps to combat the latest surge in cases, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
“It is very important,” he said, “that we say unequivocally no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions and no to mandates.”
On the same day DeSantis was railing against masks, the Broward County School board voted to require students, staff and visitors to wear masks inside its schools.
