The Florida judge allows school mask warrants to continue despite the governor’s appeal

In late July, DeSantis, a Republican, issued an executive order ordering the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Department of Health to issue emergency rules that would give parents a choice if their children had of wearing masks in class. The state threatened to withhold funding from districts that violated order and required masks for everyone.

DeSantis appealed against this sentence, which caused an immediate pause in school mask warrants while a sentence was being handed down.

This pause has already been lifted. In Wednesday’s ruling, Judge Cooper said there was not enough irreparable damage to set aside the automatic stay brought about by the appeal.

“It’s undeniable that in Florida we’re in the middle of a coveted pandemic. According to the evidence I’ve heard, there’s no harm to the state if the stay is set aside,” Cooper said.

Cooper added that, based on expert testimony, it is clear that the only way to protect children who cannot be vaccinated is to keep children isolated at home, which would cause further harm.

“It is indisputable that the Delta variant is much more infectious than the previous version of the virus and that children are more susceptible to the Delta variant than it was a year ago,” Cooper said.

“Particularly for children under 12, they can’t be vaccinated. So there’s really only one or two ways to protect them from the virus … or stay home or mask themselves.”

Cooper added that, based on the evidence, young students “certainly have no way to avoid it, except to stay home and isolate themselves.”

“I think everyone agrees, that’s not going well for them,” Cooper said.

The case will now go to the First District Court of Appeal.

“They will thoroughly consider the arguments of all parties and make a decision, which may or may not end in the Florida Supreme Court,” Cooper said.

Prior to Cooper’s ruling, Governor DeSantis said he was “very confident” that he would eventually win the court battle over his state ban on mask warrants.

“What we’ve found is, as you know, in the Tallahassee, state and federal courts of first instance, we usually lose if there’s a political component. But in the appellate court we almost always win,” DeSantis said when asked him about Wednesday’s hearing. “And so I don’t think (the judge) will lift the stay … but if it does, I trust that this will be restored at the 11th Circuit.”

DeSantis spoke from Palm Coast at an event that promoted monoclonal antibody treatments as a method of preventing serious illness and death from a Covid-19 infection.