President Joe Biden is expressing his appreciation for those fighting back against governors who he says are “politicizing mask protection for” kids.
While delivering remarks on Thursday, Biden claimed there “are a lot of people out there trying to turn a public safety measure, children wearing masks in school so they can be safe, into a political dispute.”
He argued, “This isn’t about politics. This is about keeping our children safe.”
The president mentioned a video showing protesters in Tennessee threatening health care workers and others who advocated for mask mandates. Calling health care workers “heroes,” Biden explained, “They were the heroes when there was no vaccine. Many of them gave their lives trying to save others, and they’re heroes again with the vaccine.”
Addressing the mayors, superintendents, educators, and local leaders who are “standing up to the governors politicizing mask protection for our kids,” Biden said, “Thank you… I stand with you all, and America should as well.”
Watch his remarks below:
BIDEN: “I know there are a lot of people out there trying to turn a public safety measure…children wearing masks in school so they can be safe, into a political dispute…local leaders who are standing up to the governors politicizing mask protection for our kids, thank you." pic.twitter.com/p9BunTxRBs
— JM Rieger (@RiegerReport) August 12, 2021
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said earlier this week the state Board of Education could withhold pay from school leaders who require students to wear masks.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) also vowed to take “any school district, public university or local government official that decides to defy” a mask mandates ban to court.
During an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that “it’s not comfortable, obviously, for children to wear masks, particularly the younger children.”
He added, “But you know, what we’re starting to see, Hugh, and I think it’s going to unfold even more as the weeks go by, that this virus not only is so extraordinarily transmissible, but we’re starting to see pediatric hospitals get more and more younger people and kids not only numerically, but what seems to be more severe disease.”
The leading health expert said he hopes “this will be a temporary thing, temporary enough that it doesn’t have any lasting negative impact on them.”