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Ron DeSantis: Against mask requirements in schools
Photo: Wilfredo Lee / AP
The delta mutant of the corona virus continues to have a firm grip on parts of the United States.
One of the states in which the variant is particularly avoided is Florida on the east coast.
There - with a delay - data on death rates have now been transmitted to the nationwide epidemic authority Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The values are alarming.
According to the AP news agency, the data show that for several weeks in August, more people (244) died every day as a result of an infection than in the previous peak in August 2020 (227).
According to the CDC, it is the highest death rate since the pandemic began.
Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of the US state, used Thursday for his own mission in the corona crisis: the mask requirement in schools.
DeSantis considers masks to be superfluous in class, although thousands of children were infected with Corona during the holiday weeks.
Parents should be able to decide whether their children wear a mask or not.
If the schools insist on mouth and nose protection, the governor wants to cut their funds.
On Thursday, he appealed against a court ruling that, as governor, he cannot determine the mask rules in schools.
Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper's ruling last week had given the 67 school authorities the freedom to make masking compulsory for school children.
This also applies if the parents are against it.
Critics suspect the clamor of the election campaign
DeSantis sees it differently and is now going to the next instance.
According to his own statements, he believes that the parents' rights are in danger.
"You must have an opportunity not to go along with this," said the Republican.
Critics suspect the fight for voters behind his very public campaign against protective masks.
Especially in the conservative camp, there are still many people who oppose the corona rules.
Other Republican politicians in the United States also oppose masks in schools in their states.
Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, wants to ban the mask requirement as in Florida - and is receiving opposition from school districts in the major cities of Austin and Dallas.
The governor of South Carolina also believes that mouth and nose protection is unnecessary in schools.
The political battle over the mask has now reached the White House.
"If you don't want to help us, at least don't stand in our way," President Joe Biden recently reprimanded unruly governors like DeSantis.
The Democrat recently explicitly mentioned Florida and Texas as negative examples.
jok / AP