Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis “reaffirmed Florida’s stance on COVID-related mandates.”
DeSantis stressed his opposition to what his office termed “unelected federal bureaucrats and local government authoritarians wishing to usher in a Biomedical Security State” and insisted that “Florida remains the national leader in medical freedom and was the first state to ban dangerous gain-of-function research.”
DeSantis currently stands in a distant second place behind former President Donald Trump in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.
“Even today, parts of our country are forcing children to wear masks in the classroom,” said DeSantis. “Those mandates are DOA in Florida, and we will protect parents and children from this perpetual COVID hysteria.”
“There are forces in our world that constantly use fear and distortion to try and convince us to abandon our freedom and civil liberties,” said state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. “Freedom is the Florida way, and each one of us can carry the mantle and preserve it for all people.”
The governor’s office stressed his signing a new law earlier in the year.
“The landmark legislative package safeguarded residents’ freedom by ensuring no patient is forced by a business, school, or government entity to undergo testing, wear a mask, or be vaccinated for COVID-19. The legislation also protects physicians’ freedom of speech and freedom to use their best judgment to care for their patients through alternative treatments. Lastly, Florida is the first state to ban unsafe and unregulated gain-of-function research, like the research conducted in the Wuhan lab,” the governor’s office noted.
