Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday evening that he will be pardoning Floridians charged with violating COVID-19 mask or social distancing restrictions.
The Florida Republican broke the news on “The Ingraham Angle” to Mike and Jillian Carnevale, gym owners who face jail time for allowing their members to workout maskless.
“I’m glad you have Mike and Jillian on, and I’m also glad to be on, to be able to say that effective tomorrow morning, I’m going to sign a reprieve under my constitutional authority,” the governor said. “So that will delay the case for 60 days against both of them and then when our clemency board meets in the coming weeks we will issue pardons not only for Mike and Jillian but for any Floridian that may have outstanding infractions for things like masks and social distancing.”
>>> What’s the best way for America to reopen and return to business? The National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of The Heritage Foundation, assembled America’s top thinkers to figure that out. So far, it has made more than 260 recommendations. Learn more here.
“The fact is, it’s not even right to be wearing masks when you are exercising, the World Health Organization advises against it,” DeSantis said. “It is not healthy for people to be doing that in the first place so it was a bad restriction, but these things with health should be advisory, they should not be punitive, and we are happy to use our constitutional authority.”
“I think they have been treated poorly and fortunately they’ve got a government that cares,” DeSantis said. He emphasized that Florida must “move forward as a state.”
“We are the oasis of freedom, that’s why Florida is doing well,” DeSantis said. “Let’s build off that and let’s not go backwards on any of this stuff.”
DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.