The state of Florida’s top doctor has said that facemasks are not saving lives and denounced doctors and scientists who continue to advocate for their use.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo was appearing at a press conference alongside Governor Ron DeSantis. According to ABC News:
Ladapo said there are no clinical trials – which he called the highest form of medical research – that definitively prove masking is effective against COVID.
He called other studies, touted by the CDC as proof masking works, “shaky” and conducted with “shaky methods.”
“Doctors that tell you [masks] save lives, ask them what did the two randomized clinical trials that we’ve done during the pandemic, what did they show?” Ladapo added.
Ladapo’s comments were made in a press conference with the governor, calling on lawmakers to revive a stalled bill in Tallahassee, aimed at protecting doctors from punishment from medical licensing boards if they express their personal opinions in treatment or even on social media.
“I mean, you’d think that my colleagues have been taken over by zombies,” Ladapo said.
Here in Salford, masks seem to be disappearing. I visited two supermarkets in recent days and could only count the masked on one hand. We live close to the tram-link and several bus stops.
The majority of passengers are mask-less now.
Would that change if they were mandated again?
Probably.
