Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that Florida public schools will remain open for in-person instruction while comparing those who favor closing schools to “flat-earthers.”
“Closing schools due to coronavirus is probably the biggest public health blunder in modern American history,” DeSantis said during a Monday press conference, adding that people who advocate for such closures are comparable to “flat-earthers.” “The harm from [closing schools] is going to reverberate in those communities for years and years to come.”
DeSantis said that schools will continue to offer virtual learning options, but there will be strict monitoring requirements for students in online classes, including requiring that parents be notified if the student is struggling with virtual learning. If a student does struggle, transitions to in-person instruction could be made unless a parent objects.
DeSantis also took aim at states imposing strict mandates, including requirements to wear masks in public.
“How has that worked out in the states that have done [mask mandates]? Has that stopped an outbreak in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan? What about New Jersey? What about all these states where you have an explosion in cases? At some point, does the observed experience matter?” DeSantis asked.
“I’m opposed to mandates, period. I don’t think they work,” the governor added. “People in Florida wear [masks] when they go out, they don’t need to be strung up by a bayonet to do it. Fining people is, I think, totally overboard.”
DeSantis said mandates, like lockdowns, are most harmful to “working-class people.”
“Here’s what really irks me about it. The cost of the lockdowns are borne by working-class people. The benefit, if you say it, is for the ‘Zoom’ class. The upper-income people who work from home,” DeSantis said. “There’s narratives that lockdowns work. And they don’t.”
DeSantis went further, saying he believes the government should start to allow travel again.
“I think the president wants to do this. Let’s get travel from Brazil back. Let’s get travel from the European countries back,” DeSantis said.
The governor also addressed the state’s plan to roll out the newly developed COVID-19 vaccines, saying it will take a few months for everyone to have access to them.
“We’re not gonna have unlimited [vaccines] in the first month,” DeSantis said. “I think we pretty much will have one for every American in the first few months.”
