Gov. Ron DeSantis extends order banning local governments from enforcing mask mandates
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - MAY 06: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes his mask off as he prepares to speak during a press conference at the Hard Rock Stadium testing site on May 06, 2020 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Gov. DeSantis announced during the press
TALLAHASSEE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has extended a September executive order aimed at preventing business shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two-page extension, issued Tuesday, said the state “continues to suffer economic harm as a result of COVID-19 related closures, exacerbating the impacts of the State of Emergency, and Floridians should not be prohibited by local governments from working or operating a business.”
The extension is slated to last as long as Florida remains under a state of emergency during the pandemic. The Sept. 25 order barred local emergency ordinances that could “prevent an individual from working or from operating a business.”
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It also prevented local governments from requiring restaurants to operate below 50 percent indoor capacity and required local governments to quantify the economic impact and the public-health need for limits on indoor capacity below 100 percent.
The September order also suspended the collection of penalties and fines for violations of such things as local mask ordinances, though it did not outright ban the ordinances.