It seems mean spirited for state legislators to attempt to punish school districts that imposed mask mandates in defiance of the governor’s orders.
The day we’ve all dreamed about may finally be approaching. Are we ready for what comes next? Based on a recent development in Tallahassee, I’m worried we aren’t. Reports suggest the number of new COVID cases along the Treasure Coast are on the decline. The news coming out of other states is also promising, as cases have dropped to the point where mask mandates and other restrictions are gradually being lifted in many places. Maybe after two miserable years, the end to this pandemic is in sight. A punitive move: State could hit Indian River schools with $1.3 million penalty for last year’s mask mandate Our View: Don’t let COVID mask naysayers run Indian River County school system Evolving policy: Indian River district will mandate masks only at schools with higher COVID-19 case counts I’m trying to be cautious here, because I don’t want to jinx us. I’m hoping — praying, actually — we don’t have another surge of cases that will send us back into a new cycle of anguish. COVID has exacted a heavy toll in many of our lives. I lost a job during the early weeks of the outbreak. A few months later, I nearly lost my life. Many people I know have either contracted the disease, watched loved ones die from it, or both. Although I wasn’t around to see it, what we’ve all been through brings to mind the type of suffering and sacrifices I’ve learned my parent’s generation endured during World War II. At the end of the war, people in our country made peace with their enemies. I wonder if the same type of reconciliation is possible as we wind down our war against COVID. Because we haven’t just been battling a virus. COVID has caused people within our society to turn on each other. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the debate about masking. Last year, the furor over mask mandates in Florida schools was intense.
