Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis poked fun at New Yorkers “wearing six masks” during an event celebrating a full school year of in-person instruction at a Florida district.
“I think they sent, like, one of the corporate media outlets sent some reporter down,” DeSantis said of schools in Baker County, which opened to in-person instruction at the start of the school year. “They were trying to make fun of Baker. ‘Oh, these yokels are having kids going to school. How crazy are these people, right?’ The crazy ones are the people who are vaccinated still wearing six masks in New York City, to be honest with you.”
Gov. @RonDeSantisFL said anyone who is searching for COVID-19 “crazy” should look to New York.
“The crazy ones are the people who are vaccinated still wearing six masks in New York City.” pic.twitter.com/HTJ5fcA7Ty
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 27, 2021
The remarks came as the Republican governor marked the end of the school year in Baker County, celebrating it for holding an entire year of in-person instruction.
“You have enclaves in our country where parents do not have the right or the ability to send their kids to school in person,” DeSantis added. “This is the last day of school in Baker County, 180 days face-to-face. They’ve done it. They did a normal, basically a normal school year, and it was successful. You got places throughout this country where they still have the door shut on families, and these are mostly lower-middle-income families.”
FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS SIGNS BILL STOPPING SOCIAL MEDIA FROM BANNING POLITICIANS
DeSantis then turned his attention to wealthy politicians and officials who chose to close down their states while taking advantage of Florida’s more open economy.
“The wealthy people who close schools send their kids to face-to-face, usually in private schools,” DeSantis said. “You see it all the time. Just like some of these politicians that lock down their states or their cities, they all end up in Florida enjoying us.”
The event comes after a year in which Florida and its governor have stood out from most of the country, opting for a lighter approach to pandemic restrictions, while other states went into strict lockdowns. While DeSantis has at times taken criticism from the media for his approach, Florida voters indicate they have mostly approved of their governor’s handling of the pandemic.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
DeSantis also announced on Twitter later that he was giving teachers a $1,000 bonus for their work during the pandemic school year.
“Schools in Florida are open,” DeSantis said. “We’re saying thank you to our hardworking teachers in the classroom by giving them $1,000 bonuses and raises.”
