FL Surgeon General Goes Off on Masks: “These are not Saving Lives”

March 3, 2022 Updated 1:21 P.M. ET

TAMPA (FCV) – Newly confirmed Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo went off on masks at a press conference with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) Thursday.

“These are hard to find in Florida,” he said.

“People across the political spectrum, including doctors, think these things are saving lives. These are not saving lives.”

At the press conference, DeSantis and Ladapo expressed support for a bill dubbed Free Speech of Healthcare Practitioners Act, which would ensure that doctors cannot have their licenses, certificates, or registrations revoked for using their free speech.

Ladapo explained that the randomized clinical trials done during the pandemic found effectively zero measurable benefit of using masks.

“Not a single one found a benefit in young people,” he continued.

“Lower evidence is what the CDC likes to tout – you know, shaky studies, shaky methods, finding 80% reductions in infection – give me a break, I mean come on, nothing that we’re seeing in this country justifies that kind of conclusion.”

“Good doctors who were brave enough to say what the science showed got punished.”

At the press conference, DeSantis said on the bill that he wants to “make sure that people can exercise sound judgment, we want to make sure doctors can practice medicine and not just be genuflecting to whatever may come out from these agencies or professional bodies.”

If passed, HB 687 would take effect July 1, 2022.