NIH Director Does Not ‘Understand’ DeSantis Refusing to Mandate Masks on Children

Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said he does not “understand” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) refusal to force children to wear masks in school, contending mask mandates are “not quite the huge challenge [or] burden that sometimes it’s being portrayed.”

Collins made the remark during a Sunday appearance on CNN, where he explained he did not “understand” DeSantis’s recent order protecting parental decisions about masks.

“This seems like something local officials ought to be able to decide based on their community’s circumstance,” Collins said, adding, “Being asked to wear a mask is perhaps not quite the huge challenge [or] burden that sometimes it’s being portrayed.”

“Kids are pretty adaptable,” he added.

Last week, Gov. Desantis signed an executive order directing the Florida Department of Education and Department of Health to issue emergency rules to protect parental rights in determining whether their children will wear masks in school.

“We think that that’s the most fair way to do it,” he said during a press conference in Cape Coral, explaining that he and his wife are not going to put masks on their young children.

“My wife and I are not gonna do the masks with the kids. We never have. I want to see my kids smiling. I want them having fun. Look, my kids are a little younger, but I can tell you, whatever you think of masks, you gotta wear it properly,” he said.

“My kids ain’t gonna wear that thing properly. We know that,” he continued, acknowledging that some parents may feel differently and should have the option to make that determination:

If a parent really feels that this is something that’s important for their kid, we’re not stopping that. They absolutely have every right to equip their student with whatever types of masks that they want and have them go school if they believe that that’s a protection that’s important for their children. I think that’s the fairest way to do it: to let the parents have the decision. It would not be fair if we told parents who want the kids to wear masks they weren’t allowed to do it. But it’s certainly not fair to force parents who don’t believe the masks are good for their kids to force them to have to send their kids in masks.

DeSantis’s executive action followed his vow last month that his administration will not mandate schools to require children to wear masks.

“There’s been talk about, potentially, people advocating at the federal level imposing compulsory masks on kids. We’re not doing that in Florida, okay?” he said during a press conference at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida, last month.