STATEWIDE — As the Florida State Board of Education meets on Thursday to consider disciplinary action against 11 school districts with classroom mask mandates, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried released schools-COVID data.
What You Need To Know
- Nikki Fried says data shows that wearing masks in schools lowers COVID cases
- She says the DeSantis administration has been trying to block data from the public
- RELATED: State BOE could discipline districts Thursday without parent opt-out
She held a press conference where the state's only statewide elected Democrat will release data she says Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has been actively trying to block from the public.
“The data clearly demonstrates that requiring masks in schools led to lower COVID-19 cases per capita than school districts that did not require masks,” stated a press release from her office, which announced her news conference.
If true, that would undercut a central argument opponents of classroom mask mandates have made: That mask-wearing by children does not appreciably prevent the spread of COVID-19 among young people who are poor transmitters of the virus, in their view.
How Fried has gotten this information is unclear, and that will be a question she will no doubt be asked.
Fried livestreamed press conference on Facebook.