School districts in Florida and Texas are opposing the Republican governor’s ban on requiring children and teachers to wear masks. coronavirus Cases surge in conservative areas vaccination Rate.
On Tuesday, the Broward County School Board in Florida became the latest major district to ignore Republican Governor Rick DeSantis’ ban on masks in the state. The Dallas Independent School District said late Monday that although Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered a ban on such tasks, it will also require masks.
The revolt by school officials came as these states — as well as Louisiana, Arkansas, and other states — have seen a large number of new cases after people resisted demands for vaccines and masks. Teachers and administrators are working hard to protect students, many of whom are under 12 years old and cannot be vaccinated.
Driven by highly contagious Delta variant, The number of cases and hospitalizations in the United States soared to a six-month high, and the curve is not flat.
Based on population, the number of new cases in Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas and how many COVID patients are leading the way in their hospitals. Texas is not far behind.
In Arkansas, there were only 8 intensive care beds available for COVID patients on Monday, and Republican Governor Asa Hutchison said he regrets supporting the state’s ban on wearing masks.
In Florida, nearly one out of every three hospital beds is occupied by a coronavirus patient, and a surgeon in Orlando said that hospitals in the area are “overcrowded” because they have not been vaccinated.
“We need a field hospital. Please help us,” AdventHealth surgeon Sam Atallah wrote on Twitter on Monday. “We are in a state of emergency in Orlando.”
Florida has more than 21,000 new infections every day, breaking the daily record of COVID-19 cases
In Dallas, some staff threatened that if they were not required to wear masks to protect children, teachers, and others, they would resign, and school district officials said they believed that the governor’s order should not be applied to them. Austin’s school also plans to require masks.
The Dallas School District stated on its website: “Governor Abbot’s order does not restrict the school district’s right to act as an employer and educational institution to establish reasonable and necessary safety rules for its employees and students.”
Dallas County Chief Executive Clay Jenkins (Clay Jenkins) said on Monday evening that he asked the district court to block Governor Greg Abbott’s July order to prevent local governments from implementing mask injunctions.
“The enemy is not each other,” Jenkins said in a statement. “The enemy is a virus, and we must all do our best to protect public health.”
In Florida, someone filed a lawsuit to challenge the ban on masking. DeSantis threatened to withhold wages from school district officials who ignored the ban.
This threat prompted a response from the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, which is considering compensation for school officials who lost their salaries due to DeSantis’ threats.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday: “We are continuing to study our options to help protect and help support these teachers and administrators who are taking steps to protect the people in the community.”
DeSantis on Tuesday insisted on his statewide ban on wearing masks, saying it would allow parents to decide whether to wear masks for their children during class.
“This is about parental choices, not government orders. I think in the end, parents will be able to exercise the choices they think are suitable for their children,” DeSantis said at a briefing.
— Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento; Additional reporting by Maria Caspani and Peter Szekely in New York and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Shoemaker
View link »
