When Florida and Texas announced that they would be further easing their COVID-19 restrictions, the decision drew ire from critics who called it careless. As. part of the decision, Floridians will also not receive citations for not wearing masks although businesses still have the right to dictate whether customers and patrons are required to wear masks.
In a public health care roundtable discussion Wednesday morning, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) shared his thoughts on lifting a mask mandate, stressing that "ultimately individuals should be able to make their own decisions."
When asked about Florida's future regarding the use of masks, Governor DeSantis expressed that the state would be moving forward with easing restrictions about mask-wearing. "There are actually some places in our country...where you can potentially have ..jail for not wearing a mask," DeSantis explained, calling it "way, way overboard."
In terms of the role that public health officials should take on the current matter at hand, DeSantis feels that they should "put out the information, let people make those decisions, and I think that's the appropriate role for the government going forward."
The Governor also added that "the people that have been fined for violating a mask order or any type of social distancing, we've remitted all those through our clemency authority, and it will continue."
