Gov. Ron DeSantis demanded that the Republican-controlled Legislature make Florida’s bans on mask demands at schools and vaccine restrictions for local governments and companies permanent in a broad attack on COVID-19 prevention measures.
The laws were passed throughout a special session DeSantis called in late 2021 when he was at risk with numerous Florida school districts, business owners, and the federal government, which was led by President Joe Biden, and that was taking actions it believed might be necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19.
In June, the mandatory bans that Florida lawmakers had authorized at the time will expire.
DeSantis, however, wants to maintain them in effect and has warned that attempts to bring them back may develop in states like California, which removed statewide requirements about a year ago.
DeSantis addressed a crowd at a theater in Panama City in a speech that looked like a campaign rally and stated, “Being the free state of Florida did not happen by accident.” Before he spoke, a staff member from the governor’s office told the audience to wave signs that read, “Science Not Censorship.”
DeSantis Believes that Laws Conflict with Freedom
DeSantis continued by talking about his support for Florida’s freedom. The government, the medical system, the legacy media, as well as the president of the United States, he claimed, “were working together to impose a bio-medical security state on society. It needed us during the last few years to speak against important institutions in our society.”
