A Florida state appeals court on Friday reversed a lower court’s ruling and allowed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates to be re-imposed, NBC News reports.
Florida remains in the top ten states in number of new daily coronavirus cases per capita, with numbers about 50% higher than the national average, according to the most recent New York Times data.
County Circuit Court Judge John Cooper last month ruled against DeSantis but placed a stay on his ruling pending DeSantis’ appeal. On Wednesday Judge Cooper again ruled against DeSantis, and lifted his stay, ordering the ban he called “arbitrary and capricious,” and “without legal authority” to be voided.
On Friday, despite the massive number of COVID-19 cases in Florida the Florida 1st District Court of Appeal ruled a stay “should be vacated only for the most compelling of reasons.” That ruling suggests the court believes the current 7-day average of 15,610 daily new coronavirus cases was not sufficiently “compelling” to allow school districts to implement mask mandates, and Judge Cooper’s ruling that “everybody,” including the governor, has to “comply with the laws passed by the Florida legislature.”
NBC News adds that this “most recent decision in the back-and-forth legal battle means schools can be penalized for enforcing mask mandates to prevent the spread of Covid-19.”
This is a breaking news and developing story.