Miami (AFP)
A Florida judge on Friday rejected an executive order by the state's pro-Trump Republican governor and said schools could make masks mandatory.
Judge John Cooper ruled in favor of a group of parents who had taken legal action to quash an executive order from Governor Ron DeSantis that banned schools from asking students and employees to wear masks to fight Covid-19.
Several school districts in Florida had decided to make the wearing of masks mandatory because of an increase in cases caused by the highly contagious Delta variant.
Ron DeSantis, Republican and supporter of former President Donald Trump, opposes any measure restricting, according to him, individual freedoms.
During the hearing, attorneys representing the governor and the education department asserted that parents have the right to decide what is best for their child's health, according to a state law enacted this year.
Justice Cooper rejected this argument, saying the law does not prevent public institutions from taking measures to protect the health of citizens, as long as they prove they are reasonable and necessary.
“Parents' rights are very important, but they have some reasonable limits,” the judge wrote according to The New York Times.
John Cooper banned the education department from punishing school districts that did not obey Ron DeSantis' decree.
Last week, the state government threatened two of those districts that ignored the decree, saying it would withhold a share of the funding equal to the monthly salaries of school board members.
Since the start of the school year, students in several counties in Florida have had to be quarantined after being infected with Covid-19, or coming into contact with sick people.
© 2021 AFP