Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday he remains firmly behind the state mandate for students and teachers to wear masks as in-person instruction resumes across the state, despite multiple legal challenges, including one planned by the Orange County Board of Education.
Newsom, during a visit to a school in San Bernardino County, said the mask-mandate is critical to limiting spread of COVID-19 and keeping campuses open.
“We want to keep our kids safe,” he said. “We want them back in person for in-person instruction. We don’t want our kids back on Zoom school. We don’t want our kids back online with all the disparities that were self-evident in another classroom I was in when I asked them how their download speeds are. And the fact that a young child, in first-grade, is talking about download speeds suggests everything you need to know about the nature of the impact of this pandemic and how disproportionate it has been.”
Newsom said he expects school districts across the state to follow all safety recommendations, which he said “are in line with the CDC and aligned with the American Academy of Pediatrics, which I’m more interested in their counsel and advice than, respectfully, those that are seeking to move in the direction of Florida and other states.”
