US court reinstates ban on mask mandate in Florida

The ban on mask mandate in the state of Florida, which was previously backed by Governor Ron DeSantis, has been reinstated following a US court ruling on Friday, according to US media reports. The ban restricts schools to mandate face masks for students on campus.

A Tallahassee judge halted the ban on mask mandate for the state of Florida earlier this week. However, the 1st District Court of Appeal said on Friday that the halt should not have been ordered.

“We have serious doubts about standing, jurisdiction, and other threshold matters,” the appeals judges wrote in a one-page decision. “Given the presumption against vacating the automatic stay, the stay should have been left in place pending appellate review”, according to reports from Associated Press.

The state of Florida has been on a streak of imposing penalties, most of which are financial in nature. More than a dozen school boards in Florida are currently against the mask mandate pushed by Governor DeSantis, a member of the Republican party.

Florida authorities have attempted to block salaries of school board members who voted to impose student mask mandates.

The United States Department of Education announced on Thursday it has initiated a new grant program to provide funding for school districts in Florida and elsewhere that lose money for implementing anti-coronavirus practices such as mandatory masks.

Christina Pushaw, the spokesperson of Florida Governor DeSantis wrote on Twitter, “1st District Court of Appeals just granted the State of Florida’s request to reinstate the stay — meaning, the rule requiring ALL Florida school districts to protect parents’ rights to make choices about masking kids is BACK in effect!.”

DeSantis has argued that the new Parents Bill of Rights law reserves solely for parents the authority to determine whether their children should wear a mask to school. School districts with mandatory mask rules allow an opt-out only for medical reasons, not parental discretion, according to reports from Associated Press.

(With AP inputs)