World enews: Court sides with Florida’s Ron DeSantis and reinstates school mask mandate ban pending appeal

A Florida court has reinstated Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates after a Leon County judge’s ruling was put on hold pending appeal.

The previous ruling said that the state couldn’t enforce a ban on mask mandates in schools.

On Friday, the 1st District Court of Appeal granted a request from the state of Florida to reinstate a stay on the ruling of Judge John Cooper as a group of parents strongly objected to the move, saying it could cause “irreparable harm” to their children as the number of Covid cases increases in the state, The Miami Herald reported.

The stay order allows the state to punish school officials who impose mask mandates without a parental opt-out.

“Local school officials are trying to keep children safe in a pandemic while their governor picks a fight with them and even threatens their salaries or their job,” President Joe Biden said on Thursday.

Judge Cooper ruled in August that the state cannot punish school districts that impose mask mandates if they show that their policy is “reasonable” and that it’s needed in order to achieve a “compelling state interest”.

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