The Administration of President Joe Biden, and the Governor of Florida, Republican Ron DeSantis, continue in the pulse they maintain for the use of masks and the mandatory nature of vaccines against covid-19.
The Department of Education issued a letter Monday to Richard Corcoran, the state education commissioner, warning him that they will intervene if Florida maintains its plan to prevent two school districts from receiving federal funds.
The Biden Administration sent the Alachua and Broward school districts $ 148,000 and $ 421,000, respectively, to make up for what the state took away from them for imposing the use of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools. local, initiatives that contravened a state mandate that prohibited such impositions.
On October 7, however, the Florida Board of Education sanctioned eight counties, including Alachua and Broward, for defying the state order that left the decision to use the masks in the hands of parents, and also authorized that the delivery of federal funds to those two counties is withheld.
Given this, this Monday Ian Rosenblum, a senior official from the Department of Education, said that if Florida continues with these measures, his office “is prepared to initiate executive actions to stop these inadmissible state actions.”
The letter, which does not explain what government action it could take against the state, comes a day after Governor DeSantis promised to sign a measure offering a $ 5,000 bonus to out-of-state Police officers and at risk of losing their work because of the obligation to get vaccinated.
“NYPD, Minneapolis, Seattle: If you are not treated well, we will treat you better here. It can meet important needs for us and, as a result, we will make up for it,” DeSantis said in an interview on conservative Fox on Sunday.
The governor’s offer is in line with the recent announcement that he will call a special session of the legislature, possibly in November, to combat the mandatory vaccination of businesses within the state.
For police officers and officials in cities such as New York or Chicago, the covid-19 vaccine is mandatory, which is the most effective prevention measure against the disease, according to the governmental Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of USA.
However, some unions in the country’s police agencies have questioned the obligation of vaccines.
STATE SURGEON REFUSES BEFORE SENATOR TO USE A MASK
The discussion about the masks reached the office of a state senator who suffers from breast cancer and, prior to a meeting, she asked Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, the state’s highest health authority, to wear a mask because of that he had “a serious medical condition. “
Democratic Senator Tina Polsky, who plans to start radiation therapy sessions next week, was forced to ask Ladapo to withdraw due to his refusal to wear a mask during the brief meeting that occurred on Wednesday of last week, as collect local media.
The surgeon general, nominated last month by DeSantis, and as the governor, a staunch opponent of the mandatory nature of masks and vaccines, suggested that the senator hold the meeting on a terrace, to which Polsky refused, which he did not reveal. Ladapo had cancer.
The surgeon general’s action has been rejected by legislators from both parties.
“A cancer diagnosis should not be necessary for people to respect the comfort level of others with social interactions during a pandemic,” said Florida Senate Leader Wilton Simpson, Republican, in a memo distributed to the senators on Saturday.
Simpson said that although there is no order in the state legislative headquarters regarding the mandatory use of masks, senators can require them from visitors as well as maintain a social distance.
“What happened in Senator Polsky’s office was unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate,” added the Republican.