Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), on Monday suggested a permanent ban of coronavirus mandates, including masking and vaccinations. He said that the legislature would address this issue in the next legislative session.
DeSantis spoke at a press conference to end Disney’s self-governing status. He mentioned how the organization dealt with the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. This included forcing children to wear masks.
“And then, as we got into 2021,” he explained, “And then, you know… a lot of these Disney workers would come — they’d just look at me at like Wawa and say, “Hey, I’m going to lose my job at Disney due to the vax… mandates COVID’ and that that was not something we thought was acceptable within the state of Florida.” He said to applause.
He said, “And we did it not only for Disney, but for everyone” which included children and law enforcement. DeSantis stated that while they were able save jobs, unvaccinated workers were still treated differently.
He noted that they would have treated them differently if the shot was not given. “A shot that doesn’t prevent you getting infected or spreading it anyway is a shot that doesn’t stop you from getting infected.”
“But they force them to wear masks or do this and that.” He said that one of the things they’ll be doing in the next legislative session is to “protect people’s rights”. He explained that the mandate bans will be made “permanent” and protect “your civil right to be able participate in society without having a mask on or some of these other things.
“We’re going work on strong and permanent protections to every Floridian citizen [and] job, but I do believe this board will be in able you know, to provide protections to the patrons coming as well as for the employees as much as necessary,” he stated, referring to the state-controlled board that will oversee the area.