Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo slammed mask mandates as “terrible policies” Thursday and urged people not to comply as entities across the country return to forced masking.
Schools, hospitals, and businesses across the country are enforcing mask mandates again as some scientists warn of a rise in COVID cases. Earlier this week, Morris Brown College in Atlanta announced it will bring back a mask mandate despite having zero reported cases of COVID on campus and Lionsgate film studio in California said it was also reinstating mask mandates for some of its Santa Monica offices. Lionsgate later lifted the mandate, saying it had contained the COVID spread.
“What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm? You don’t call it sanity,” Ladapo posted to X. “These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about refusing to participate…”
What do you call re-imposing mask policies that have been proven ineffective or restarting lockdowns that are known to cause harm?
You don't call it sanity.
These terrible policies only work with your cooperation. How about refusing to participate…
— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) August 24, 2023
A return to mask mandates has also been pushed by legacy media outlets this week. CNN published an article on Wednesday titled, “It may be time to break out the masks against Covid, some experts say.” A CBS News medical contributor argued Friday that “People 65-plus and people who are immunocompromised should strongly consider masking during flu, RSV, COVID season while in indoor public spaces. And for everyone else — it all depends on what their risk tolerance is.”
The Florida surgeon general has long opposed mask mandates, saying in March 2022 that the argument used to push mask mandates is “a lie,” adding, “It needs to stop and people need to un-believe it.”
Ladapo has also opposed vaccine mandates and worked with Governor Ron DeSantis to make Florida the first state to recommend against COVID vaccines for healthy children after releasing a study suggesting the vaccine poses a higher health risk to young men. DeSantis signed legislation in May banning forced masking and vaccine mandates in Florida. The law makes any mask mandate in any school from kindergarten through college illegal.
“First, the bill really goes back to the idea of prescribing freedom and it really does a lot of things. It makes all these protections permanent that we have done over the last two years,” DeSantis said after signing the bill.
“How can they force you to take it? Whether it is a business or government?
That is wrong and it won’t be allowed in the State of Florida.”
Governor DeSantis signs law to make all the 2021 Medical Freedom protections permanent, banning forced masking and Covid jab mandates. pic.twitter.com/Y1WyUPPsAC
— Chris Nelson 🇺🇸 🏝 (@ReOpenChris) May 11, 2023