A St. Pete Polls survey found that 62 percent of likely Florida voters support mask mandates for school children.
St. Pete Polls surveyed 3,952 likely Florida voters from August 2 to August 3. The poll used random samples of registered voter lists supplied by the state of Florida as of June 15. The poll was conducted through an automated phone call polling system and results were then weighted to account for proportional differences between the respondents’ demographics and the demographics of the active voter population for the state of Florida. The margin of error was 1.6%.
The poll was conducted after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced the signing of an executive order banning mask mandates in Florida’s public schools. The order also directed the state to craft penalties and punishments for school districts who choose to ignore the state’s directive and impose a mandate regardless.
Support for a mask mandate fell largely along party lines. Eighty-four percent of Democrats would support the measure, 66 percent of Independents, and 39 percent of Republicans back it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently changed their recommendations again, suggesting kids in K-12 schools should wear masks regardless of vaccination status, and DeSantis said he would not support the CDC’s recommendations.
“I think our fear is, seeing some of those rumblings, that there will be an attempt from the federal level or even some of these organizations to try to push for mandatory masking of school children,” said DeSantis. “And so our view is that this should absolutely not be imposed. It should not be mandated.”
DeSantis also took a swipe at Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH), and said Fauci would want to “muzzle” DeSantis’ three-year-old son.
“I’ve got a 3-year-old son, and you’ve got people like (Anthony) Fauci saying ‘he should be muzzled and you should be throwing masks on these 3-year-old kids,’” said DeSantis. “It’s totally unacceptable. It’s certainly unacceptable to have any level of government imposing that on parents and on kids.”
Despite DeSantis’ mask mandate ban, two Florida public school systems announced they will be requiring all teachers, students, and staff to be masked for the upcoming school year.
Alachua County Public Schools, in Gainesville, tweeted they will temporarily require masks and revisit the issue on August 17.
“In light of dramatic increases in local COVID cases and hospitalizations, including among children, the School Board has voted to require masks for students for the first two weeks of school,” the tweet said. “The Board will reevaluate at its August 17 meeting.”
In light of dramatic increases in local COVID cases and hospitalizations, including among children, the School Board has voted to require masks for students for the first two weeks of school. The Board will reevaluate at its August 17 meeting.
— Alachua Schools (@AlachuaSchools) August 4, 2021
Duval County Schools heard from parents and students for over four hours, and the school system compromised with allowing parents to opt their child out of the mask requirement.
“Any student not wearing a mask pursuant to this policy must, through his/her/their parent or guardian, complete the opt out procedures provided by his/her/their assigned school,” the school board said.
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
