Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida laid into Democratic governors in five states on Tuesday who announced roll-backs of mask mandates in schools and indoor establishments a day prior.
The Florida governor criticized the sudden "epiphany" Democratic governors of California, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, and Oregon had on Monday as they each signaled the removing of measures in place intended to mitigate COVID-19.
"The medical science didn't change, the political science changed," DeSantis said during a press conference in Polk County.
"The science has not changed one iota. We knew from the beginning, and that's why Florida never imposed a forced masking policy on school children, and that's why we fought to liberate the kids from the forced masking that was done on the local level because there was never a justification for it," he added.
DeSantis attributed the change to new polling data showing mandatory masking of school children is unpopular.
"They feel the heat. They know that voters have been tired of perpetual lockdown policies," DeSantis said. "They know that they have basically offered no offramp, and they know that they're fixing to be whooped at the polls, so that's causing the epiphany."
However, a January New York Times-Morning Consult poll showed that 68% of Americans backed mask mandates for students in response to the COVID-19 omicron variant.
Chalkbeat suggested earlier this month that a series of recent opinion pieces in The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post questioning mask mandates using scientific data may be more responsible for the tabling of the policy as the omicron surge draws to a close.
DeSantis also stressed his record on opposing statewide lockdowns and mandates as governor of Florida since the pandemic's beginning.
"Everyone is doing what Florida was doing from the beginning," DeSantis said.
"It's been pretty obvious from day one," he added.
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