Florida's in big pandemic trouble, thanks to the GOP death-cult that made epidemiology into a culture-war issue. And while many everyday Floridians have some weird ideas about the politics of pandemics, it's Florida officaldom that's at the heart of the problem.
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Case in point: Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods has banned his deputies from wearing masks on the job, and has announced that he will not enforce the Ocala City Council's mandatory mask order.
washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08…
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Woods emailed the Sheriff's Department to say, "The fact is, the amount of professionals that give the reason why we should [wear masks], I can find the exact same amount of professionals that say why we shouldn’t."
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This is true in the sense that for every expert who will assert that the Earth is round, you can find an "expert" who'll tell you it is flat. The dispute isn't so much about facts as it is about epistemology: how do you know which experts are reliable?
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Deputies working special events are banned from masking up. Woods requires all visitors to the Sheriff's Office to remove their masks as a condition of entry, in case they are antifa super-soldiers using masks as disguises.
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Wood: "This is no longer a debate nor is it up for discussion...My orders will be followed or my actions will be swift to address."
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