With over 20,000 covid hospitalizations, Florida governor DeSantis seems to want to trade his reelection for a fight against mask and vaccine mandates. Waging a fight to be free to risk contamination seems the height of GOP and trumpist stupidity.
His ban on vaccine passports was temporarily blocked by a federal judge late Sunday: Norwegian Cruise Line was cleared to require coronavirus vaccines for guests and crew members after U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams granted the company a preliminary injunction, blocking a Florida law championed by DeSantis that would have fined the cruise company for requiring vaccines.
Coronavirus protocols in schools are also in the spotlight as the head of the country’s second-largest teachers union on Sunday shifted course to signal support for vaccine mandates for teachers to protect students, especially those under 12 who are not old enough to be inoculated.
MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge on Sunday night granted Norwegian Cruise Line’s request to temporarily block a Florida law banning cruise companies from asking passengers for proof of coronavirus vaccination before they board a ship.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted the preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging the state’s “vaccine passport” ban, which was signed into law in May by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In a nearly 60-page ruling, the judge said Florida failed to “provide a valid evidentiary, factual, or legal predicate” for banning vaccination proof. Williams also said the cruise line company “has demonstrated that public health will be jeopardized if it is required to suspend its vaccination requirement.”
Norwegian also contends that the law is an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee. The lawsuit names state Surgeon General Scott Rivkees, who leads the Florida Department of Health. The state’s attorney, Pete Patterson, previously said the law’s aim is to prevent discrimination against passengers who don’t get vaccinated.
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