Poll shows majority in favor of mandates for schools, elsewhere

Orlando Sentinel
A new poll shows widespread support for state and local mask mandates, including requiring them in schools.

The findings by the latest Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index released Tuesday come as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have faced backlash from school districts trying to impose mandatory mask rules, which both leaders have forbidden in classrooms.

But the poll also shows major partisan and localized differences, with Democrats and urbanites in favor of mandates and Republicans and rural residents against them.

In the poll of 1,041 adults, conducted Aug. 13 to 16, 64% of respondents supported their state or local government requiring masks in public places.

The vast majority of Democrats, 88%, support such mandates. But only 40% of Republicans did.

In addition, 71% of people in urban areas support mask mandates and just 49% of people in rural areas.

School mask mandates have near-universal support at 92%, Axios/Ipsos said, with 44% of Republicans supporting them.
DeSantis has opposed mask mandates almost from the beginning, though most of Florida’s major cities and counties had their own mandates until this year. DeSantis signed legislation giving the governor the power to overturn local mandates, which went into effect July 1.

A large majority, 69% also supported requiring masks in school.

There was no significant difference among parents or non-parents, at 68% and 70% support, respectively.

In addition, 66% of respondents opposed state laws such as the one in Florida that tie the hands of local governments. But 57% of Republicans supported such laws.

A large majority of 77% also opposed withholding funding from school districts that impose their own mandates.
So far, Broward and Alachua counties have flouted DeSantis and the state by putting in place strict mask mandates for schools.

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

4 of Florida's 5 largest school districts to require masks

Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — As more large school districts defy Florida's ban on strict mask mandates, worries that rapidly spreading infections could force them to close classrooms are no longer theoretical: Thousands of schoolchildren are already being sent home, only days after their school year began.

Children — particularly those too young to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — are “really good” at transmitting the coronavirus, said Dr. J. Stacey Klutts, a special assistant to the national director of pathology and lab medicine for the entire Veterans Affairs system.

Klutts said the highly contagious delta variant makes it absolutely necessary to wear masks indoors and avoid large group gatherings, so if unprotected students sit for hours in classrooms every day, it could rapidly spread infection in the community at large.

“It’s terrifying. I’m afraid that we’re going to have a lot of really sick kids in addition to the spread which is going to be a lot of sick adults,” Klutts said.

School boards in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties voted Wednesday to join Broward and Alachua in requiring students to wear facial coverings unless they get a doctor's note. With Orange County still allowing an easy parental opt-out, four of Florida's five largest districts are now defying Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on strict mask mandates.

Students began their school year in Palm Beach County on Aug. 10 with a parental opt-out policy that allowed more than 10,000 children to attend classes without masks. The board reversed course after seeing the numbers: After just one week, 734 students and 112 employees had confirmed infections, and more than 1,700 students had been sent home home, interim Superintendent Michael Burke said.

Hillsborough, which also began its school year last week, also changed its policy during an emergency meeting Wednesday after tallying 2,058 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and sending more than 10,000 students into isolation because of infection or quarantine because of exposure.

Asked about the decision of the school board in Hillsborough County, DeSantis defended his stance that parents should continue to decide for their children.

“They had allowed the parents to make the decision and have an ability to opt out and that’s how school started,” DeSantis said. “They reneged on that and basically took the decision out of the parents’ hands.”

Statewide, Florida reported 23,335 new COVID-19 infections for Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dashboard reported 16,973 hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients Thursday.

DeSantis, a Republican, also is in an escalating power struggle with the Democratic White House. After President Joe Biden ordered possible legal action Wednesday, the U.S. Education Department raised the possibility of using its civil rights arm against Florida and other Republican-led states that have blocked public health measures meant to protect students.

“Some state governments have adopted policies and laws that interfere with the ability of schools and districts to keep our children safe during in-person learning,” Biden's executive order said.

Issuing his own executive order last month, DeSantis said Florida must “protect parents’ right to make decisions regarding masking of their children” and tasked the state education commissioner with finding ways to make districts comply, including withholding state funds.

Earlier this year, DeSantis also signed a law barring government entities or any other institution from infringing on parental rights to “direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health” of their children without demonstrating that such action is reasonable, necessary and narrowly tailored.

“The forced masking of schoolchildren infringes upon parents’ rights to make health and educational decisions for their own children," the governor's spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, said Wednesday. Politicians, including those on school boards, are not above the law, she added.

“I am not on the board for political partisanship,” said Nadia Combs, who sponsored the mask policy in Hillsborough County. “We have to keep our schools open. That is my goal.”

You think Biden's threat to kill funding if they don't has anything to do with it..?? 😟

Thank God for Gov DeSantis!

Otherwise we'd be on our knees locked down like the other slave states. Moron Joe talks about Jim Crow laws...his little wannabe mandates are Jim Crow 2.0. G00gl3 Jim Crow laws if you don't believe me. Just substitute a few words here and there and it fits like a glove.

The DNC is a terrorist organization!

I almost wish Trump would just get behind DeSantis for POTUS

DeSantis could then make Trump his VP!

(But I dream)

Either way, a hearty amen to - "Thank God for Gov. DeSantis."
So far A shining example of great American leadership!

Mask mandates are here and the real terrorists are the anti mask people like those that planned to kidnap the Michigan governor or the idiots on planes and trains. CT has a mandate coming next month for teachers and state employees. Desadist will probably be the next governor to contract the covid.

^ the FBI ?
You do realize it was they who hatched & orchestrated the kidnapping?

Did you put shoe polish on your face before you typed that?

My terrorist name is Keeza Mayaz.

Hawaii has strictest mask mandates, right? Texas not so much?

I think I read somewhere they have the same instances of new cases. 🤔

99.8% survival rate. Freedom over fear.

Just more FEAR PORN!!

Tony prefers being scared shi*less over freedom.

We're talking about masks...

You act like we're talking about whether you should be allowed to sit on the back of the bus if you're white or not.

Tony would be terrified to sit in the back of the bus even with his masks. There are black people sitting in the back of the bus. Tony is gonna sit up in the first row next to the bus driver so as to be near the closest thing to government authority on that bus.

Or see what your about to hit.

Trump has always been behind DeSantis.
cause he takes it up the azz...

Bulletin - Black people no longer are relegated to the back of the bus - time to catch up.

Sounds like cheeto science.