Ron DeSantis's mask-bashing new surgeon general wastes no time ripping up COVID school restrictions

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this week hired a new surgeon general who has become notorious for questioning the science behind masks and vaccines, as well as for appearing in a pro-hydroxychloroquine video with infamous "demon sperm" Dr. Stella Immanuel.

Now the Sun-Sentinel is reporting that newly minted Florida surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo is wasting no time ripping up the state's few COVID-19 public health regulations.

Specifically, Ladapo has ruled that parents no longer have to quarantine their children if they've been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Rather, parents will have the option of keeping their kids home from school or sending them in.

"The new rule wipes out a previous one that required students to quarantine off-campus at least four days after exposure to someone with the virus," the Sun-Sentinel writes. "It does not alter Florida's ban against mask mandates, however, as it reiterates the previous order's requirement that parents be able to opt-out their children from wearing face coverings."

The appointment of Ladapo marks the latest effort by DeSantis to rip up any public health restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, which so far has killed neatly 680,000 Americans and nearly 52,000 Florida residents.