Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at NeoCity Academy Wednesday afternoon, touting guidance from new state Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo's guidance that students who test positive for COVID-19 but are asymptomatic can continue to attend school and activities.
To read the emergency order in its entirety, go to: https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/64DER21-15.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0c07Gwlk824MpDhisaUXgTHsjTNuwz7aysPipSMlLWvvY3_rekqjSyl-s
Ladapo, state Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran and local education leaders spoke that the move would help with attendance issues, and that health-based issues like COVID-19 and their children's ability to attend school should be in the hands of parents.
Ladapo, touting a "symptoms based approach," said he and DeSantis share a similar vision.
"We respect the the roles of parents. This new rule allows parents to keep sick children and home, and lets their healthy children go back to school," said Ladapo, who also said at a press conference Tuesday, announcing his replacement of Dr. Scott Rivkees, that he doesn’t believe in school closures, lockdowns or vaccine mandates.
DeSantis said this kind of guidance is "so much better for so many folks."
"Schools are not driving this epidemic," he said. "If they were you'd have seen this last wave totally take off when school started. We're a month into the school year, and instead numbers of cases and hospitalizations are plummeting."
He said the same guidance on asymptomatic cases is being used in European countries and the state of Iowa.
Looking at current national data provided, Florida and Iowa's case numbers, per capita, are similar.
"We want to make sure we're following that data," he said. "Parents always have the right to keep kids home, but if they are healthy, they can choose to send them to school."
Corcoran noted that past mandates forcing anyone testing positive to quarantine from four to 10 days, depending on symptoms and getting a subsequent negative test, have created an "absenteeism epidemic." School District of Osceola County Debra Pace said those same quarantine mandates have been "devastating to working parents."
