As Covid-19 Cases Increase, Florida and Texas Schools Disobey Government Bans on Mask Regulations

As coronavirus cases soar in conservative areas with low vaccination rates, school districts in Florida and Texas are defying Republican governors’ bans on requiring masks for children and teachers.

As of Tuesday, the Broward County School Board in Florida became the latest major district to flout an order by Republican Governor Rick DeSantis outlawing mask requirements in that state.

Late Monday, the Dallas Independent School District announced that it would require students to wear masks, despite Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s order prohibiting such mandates.

While these states, along with others such as Louisiana and Arkansas, continue to be inundated with new cases due to people refusing vaccines and mask mandates, school officials have taken to rebelling against their authority.

School officials and teachers have made it their mission to protect students, many of whom are under 12 and unable to get vaccinated.

There has been a dramatic increase in US cases and hospitalizations in recent months, largely due to the highly contagious Delta variant.

Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas are the states with the newest cases and Covid patients. The state of Texas isn’t far behind.

On Monday, Republican Governor Asa Hutchison expressed sorrow for supporting a restriction on mask mandates in Arkansas, where only eight intensive care beds were available for Covid patients.

A surgeon in Orlando claimed hospitals in the area were “overflowing” with the unvaccinated in Florida, where a coronavirus patient fills roughly one out of every three hospital beds.

“We need a field hospital. Please help us,” Sam Atallah, a surgeon at AdventHealth, wrote on Twitter on Monday. “We are in a state of emergency in Orlando.”

To protect children, teachers, and others, some employees in Dallas had threatened to quit if masks were not mandated. School district officials said they did not believe the order should apply to them. Masks will be required in Austin schools as well.

The Dallas district said on its website, “Governor Abbott’s order does not limit the district’s rights as an employer and educational institution to establish reasonable and necessary safety rules for its staff and student.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s July order prohibiting local governments from implementing mask mandates was blocked by Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, the county’s top executive, late on Monday.

“The enemy is not each other,” Mr. Jenkins said in a statement.”The enemy is the virus, and we must all do all that we can to protect public health.”

DeSantis has threatened to withhold salaries from school district officials who flout his anti-mask order in Florida, where lawsuits have also been filed challenging the order.

The President Joe Biden administration is considering compensating school officials if DeSantis follows through on his threat.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday, “We’re continuing to look into what our options are to help protect and help support these teachers and administrators who are taking steps to protect the people in their communities.”

In a Tuesday press conference, DeSantis reaffirmed his statewide order banning mask mandates, saying that it would allow parents to decide whether their children should wear masks for school or not.

DeSantis said at a briefing, “It’s about parental choice, not a government mandate, and I think ultimately, parents will be able to exercise the choices that they deem appropriate for their kids.”

DeSantis has become a national figure for opposing pandemic restrictions, despite Florida becoming a hotbed of infections, and hospitalizations have reached record highs.

It’s widely believed that DeSantis is contemplating a run for the White House in the year 2024.