Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:14 a.m. No.14545214   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5227

https://www.economist.com/business/2015/06/25/young-blood

https://outline.com/V9xdVd

Young blood

Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline have used Theranos to run blood tests on patients undertaking drug trials, since its tests can be taken many times a week. In March it announced an alliance to provide test services for Cleveland Clinic, a chain of hospitals and health centres.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:17 a.m. No.14545221   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5222 >>5348

https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/26/9618390/Theranos-glaxosmithkline-denies-partnership-pfizer-blood-test

Theranos didn’t work with the huge drug company it supposedly made money from, huge drug company says

'I cannot find any evidence that we've done business with them in recent years'

Theranos, the hot Silicon Valley blood testing company that’s under scrutiny after a Wall Street Journal investigation suggested that the company's technology doesn't work as it should, has a lot of explaining to do. For over a year, multiple news outlets — including The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Economist, and Fortune — have reported that Theranos earns a portion its income from large pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline, who reportedly use Theranos' tech to conduct clinical trials. But according to representatives from both companies who spoke to the Financial Times that information is factually incorrect.

"I cannot find any evidence that we've done business with them in recent years," a spokesperson for GSK told the Financial Times. When The Verge asked GSK about this, Mary Anne Rhyne, a spokeswoman for GSK told us that "GSK has not done any business with Theranos in the past two years." When we asked if the company had worked with Theranos before then, she told us that she didn't "have more information to share." A Theranos spokesperson told us that Theranos had engaged in clinical trial testing for GSK starting in 2008, however, but that was before Theranos opened its retail business.

Pfizer, on the other hand, told the Financial Times that the company's dealings with Theranos were limited. "We've done only very limited historical exploratory work with Theranos through a few pilot projects," the Pfizer representative said, "and we do not have any current or active projects with them."

"A dermatologist has been running Theranos' lab"

The denials from GSK and Pfizer add to an already bad two weeks for Theranos. The Wall Street Journal's investigation — an investigation that questioned the accuracy of Theranos' blood testing technology — has cast a large shadow over the company. According to Theranos, the company has developed technology that can be used to run a full range of blood tests using far less blood than conventional methods. But the company has published almost no data demonstrating the validity of its tests. In addition, an investigation by The Verge shows that the company has exploited a number of regulatory loopholes to ensure that regulators don't compare its technology to machines developed by other companies. Most recently, the drugstore chain Walgreens announced that it would stop expanding its "wellness centers" program, which are powered by Theranos.

The Financial Times also reveals that the full-time director of Theranos's laboratory resigned at the end of last year. Since then, a dermatologist named Sunil Dhawan has replaced the director, but on a part-time basis. Dhawan is not certified by the American Board of Pathology, the FT reveals; such a certification isn't a requirement for the position, but it is unusual to run a large lab without one.

"Theranos may have allowed this misinformation to spread"

It's unclear why so many news outlets reported a partnership between Theranos and GSK when the pharmaceutical company says that it hasn't worked with Theranos in at least two years (GSK has yet to tell us if they worked with Theranos before that). It's also unclear what "limited historical exploratory work" means for Pfizer. (The Verge called Pfizer for comment; we have yet to hear back.) But if these two large pharmaceutical companies are correct, then it means that Theranos has allowed incorrect information to spread for more than a year — most notably in a prominent New Yorker profile of Elizabeth Holmes, the company's founder.

Update October 27th, 4:16PM ET: This story was updated to reflect a statement from Theranos and a statement from GSK.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:19 a.m. No.14545222   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5276

>>14545221

>Pfizer, on the other hand, told the Financial Times that the company's dealings with Theranos were limited. "We've done only very limited historical exploratory work with Theranos through a few pilot projects," the Pfizer representative said, "and we do not have any current or active projects with them."

>>14545221

>It's also unclear what "limited historical exploratory work" means for Pfizer. (The Verge called Pfizer for comment; we have yet to hear back.)

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:22 a.m. No.14545227   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5233

>>14545214

>In March it announced an alliance to provide test services for Cleveland Clinic, a chain of hospitals and health centres.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150309005903/en/Theranos-Cleveland-Clinic-Announce-Strategic-Alliance-Improve

 

“This alliance with a world-renowned health system like Cleveland Clinic furthers our mission, and is another step in our work to bring access to high-quality, affordable lab testing to everyone and help improve the quality and cost of care”

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:25 a.m. No.14545233   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14545227

>another step in our work to bring access to high-quality, affordable lab testing to everyone

That was running head first into WuhanFlu testing, wasn't it.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:27 a.m. No.14545240   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-10/elizabeth-holmes-may-point-to-mental-disease-in-her-defense

Elizabeth Holmes May Pursue ‘Mental Disease’ in Her Defense

Former Theranos Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes is exploring a “mental disease” defense for her criminal fraud trial, in one of Silicon Valley’s most closely watched cases.

Disclosure that Holmes may rely on such a defense was revealed Wednesday when the judge overseeing the case ruled that government prosecutors can examine Holmes. The ruling was in response to the former CEO’s plan to introduce evidence of her “mental disease or defect” or other mental condition “bearing on the issue of guilt,” according to the filing.

Holmes and her former boyfriend, ex-Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, are accused of falsely claiming that the company’s devices could perform myriad tests with a single drop of blood and of duping investors and defrauding doctors and patients who trusted the results. Theranos, which attracted the backing of high-profile investors and leading venture capital firms, was valued at $9 billion before unraveling over the alleged fraud.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, decided in March that Holmes and Balwani, who were charged together, should face separate trials.

Holmes’s trial was postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic and is now scheduled to start in March. Balwani’s trial will follow.

The case is U.S. v. Holmes, 18-cr-00258, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:33 a.m. No.14545258   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://cand.uscourts.gov/judges/davila-edward-j-ejd/usa-v-holmes/

United States v. Elizabeth A. Holmes, et al. 18-CR-00258-EJD

Selected case documents of special interest:

 

Docket Number Filing Date

Third Superseding Indictment 469 07/28/2020

Order re: Holmes’ Motion to Exclude Expert Opinion Testimony of Dr. Master 797 05/21/2021

Order re: Motions in Limine 798 05/22/2021

Order Granting Motion to Determine that Defendant Lacks Individual Privilege Interest in Disputed Documents 812 06/03/2021

Order Overruling Objections to Magistrate Judge’s Order 858 07/01/2021

Motion of Dow Jones & Co. to Intervene and Unseal 881 07/30/2021

Order Denying Motion to Suppress 887 08/04/2021

Final Jury Questionnaire 928 08/20/2021

Order re: Dow Jones Motion to Unseal 965 08/28/2021

Order re: Pre-trial Motions 989 08/30/2021

Supplemental Prospective Juror Packet: Anticipated Trial Schedule, Witness List, and Biographical Questionnaire 08/31/2021

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:44 a.m. No.14545270   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesh_Balwani

 

https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4100844587001#sp=show-clips

Theranos, Cleveland Clinic CEO’s on innovation partnership

 

https://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/2015/03/cleveland_clinic_partners_with.html

Cleveland Clinic partners with Innovations winner Theranos for lab tests

 

https://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/2016/05/cleveland_clinic_mum_on_details_of_alliance_with_embattled_blood-testing_company_theranos_photos.html

Cleveland Clinic mum on details of alliance with embattled blood-testing company Theranos

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:48 a.m. No.14545276   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5282

>>14545222

"We've done only very limited historical exploratory work withTheranosthrough a few pilot projects, and we do not have any current or active projects with them."

-Pfizerrepresentative

 

https://i.imgur.com/ZSv0Ifx.png

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 3:56 a.m. No.14545285   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5287 >>5289

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/08/1035035043/prosecutors-call-theranos-ex-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-a-liar-and-a-cheat-as-trial-op

September 8, 2021

Government: Holmes forged Pfizer report to woo investors

Prosecutors said Holmes' alleged deceit, in its early stages, involved a report, supposedly written by pharmaceutical company Pfizer, that Theranos' blood analyzer devices showed "superior performance."

The problem, prosecutors said, was that Pfizer hadn't authored the report, despite the company's letterhead on the top of the document that Holmes circulated to investors, who poured in millions of dollars.

"Pfizer did not write this. Pfizer did not put its logo on this," Leach told the jury. "It did not put its conclusions in this report. In fact, it gave the opposite conclusions."

The government plans on calling Pfizer officials as witnesses, in addition to Theranos whistleblowers, investors who say they were defrauded and patients who claim to have received false and misleading results after paying for Theranos blood tests.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:06 a.m. No.14545299   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5303

https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/elizabeth-holmes-trial-theranos

Elizabeth Holmes Trial: Live Updates

Lawyers delivered opening statements in the highly anticipated criminal trial of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who faces federal charges of defrauding patients and investors with claims of revolutionary blood-testing technology. Follow the latest developments.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:15 a.m. No.14545312   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14545303

>https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/1005-4Sunny-Elizabethtexts.pdf

 

Alwaleed bin Talal here (In conference Book)

I heard that. Ignore al Waleed everyone meets with him for money so u need to put that out of ur mind. Don't need that. It will be a mistake.

Obviously just sharing BC we've talked abt it so much

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:25 a.m. No.14545337   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14545289

>The government plans on calling Pfizer officials as witnesses

 

The commenter was identified as EX PHARMA and wrote: “I worked for AstraZeneca… Theranos tried to pitch pharma on ‘Adaptive Clinical Trials’ with the idea of collecting $100M strategic agreements… and saving pharma billions in clinical trials for pharma… trouble was the technology didn’t work at all—the assays didn’t work and the informatics didn’t work. Pharma didn’t bite strategically nor were any of the pilots extended. There was an apparent transformation [at Theranos from a business strategy of serving pharma] into a direct-to-consumer diagnostic company.”

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:27 a.m. No.14545342   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5348 >>5360

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlaxoSmithKline

 

In December 2018, GSK announced that it, along with Pfizer, had reached an agreement to merge and combine their consumer healthcare divisions into a single entity. The combined entity would have sales of around £9.8 billion ($12.7 billion), with GSK maintaining a 68% controlling stake in the joint venture. Pfizer would own the remaining 32% shareholding. The deal builds on an earlier 2018 deal where GSK bought out Novartis' stake in the GSK-Novartis consumer healthcare joint business.

 

In 2014, GSK applied for regulatory approval for the first malaria vaccine. Malaria is responsible for over 650,000 deaths annually, mainly in Africa. Known as RTS,S, the vaccine was developed as a joint project with the PATH vaccines initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The company has committed to making the vaccine available in developing countries for five percent above the cost of production.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:30 a.m. No.14545348   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14545221

>It's unclear why so many news outlets reported a partnership between Theranos and GSK when the pharmaceutical company says that it hasn't worked with Theranos in at least two years (GSK has yet to tell us if they worked with Theranos before that).

 

>>14545342

>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GlaxoSmithKline

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanofi%E2%80%93GSK_COVID-19_vaccine

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:31 a.m. No.14545351   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://www.engadget.com/2015-10-27-fda-report-theranos.html

FDA finds flaws in Theranos' nanotainers and quality control procedures

October 28th, 2015

 

The latest blow to Theranos' blood testing technology comes from the US Food and Drug Administration, which found flaws in the company's quality control procedures. In one of the two heavily redacted reports the FDA published, the agency says Theranos' "design validation did not ensure the device conforms to defined user needs and intended uses." The agency found out that Theranos describes its nanotainers (tiny containers for blood drawn by pricking a finger) as Class I medical devices, even though they fall under Class II, along with other higher-risk tools.

A second FDA file has revealed that the company didn't review or investigate complaints involving the "possible failure" of its proprietary device. In one instance, it didn't document a report that there were difficulties seeing the specimen's quality inside the nanotainers – in particular, some parts of its walls are too opaque to be able to spot blood clotting clearly. The agency also discovered during its inspections conducted from August 25th to September 16th, 2015 that the company has been shipping its "uncleared medical device in interstate commerce between California, Arirona, and Pennsylvania."

In addition to all these quality control failures, Theranos has been dishonest about the extend of its partnership with large pharmaceutical companies, according to the Financial Times. Previous reports about the company mentioned that it earns big money from those partnerships, but at least two have refuted those claims. A Pfizer spokesperson told the publication that it has "done only very limited historical exploratory work with Theranos through a few pilot projects." GlaxoSmithKline, on the other hand, "cannot find evidence" that it has done business with the company in recent years.

Elizabeth Holmes, the controversial company's CEO, has been defending Theranos and its technology ever since The Wall Street Journal piece that started all of this came out. Most recently, she promised to publish data that the company says can prove the accuracy of its unconventional blood testing tech. Unfortunately, Theranos didn't mention a timeframe, so we'll just have to wait until that data's released to the public.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:36 a.m. No.14545360   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5370

>>14545342

>In 2014, GSK applied for regulatory approval for the first malaria vaccine. Known as RTS,S, the vaccine was developed as a joint project with the PATH vaccines initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

 

https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-releases/new-partnership-between-gsk-and-the-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-to-accelerate-research-into-vaccines-for-global-health-needs/

New partnership between GSK and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate research into vaccines for global health needs

29 October 2013

currently in late-stage development in partnership with the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. RTS,S has been designed for use in infants and children from sub-Saharan Africa, where maintaining vaccines at an optimum temperature can be challenging. Developing a method of making AS01 more heat stable could bring a significant public health benefit. The results could also have broader applications for all other AS01-containing vaccines, including vaccines in development by GSK against HIV and tuberculosis.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:39 a.m. No.14545367   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5370 >>5382

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/adjuvants.html

 

Aluminum-containing adjuvants are vaccine ingredients that have been used in vaccines since the 1930s. Small amounts of aluminum are added to help the body build stronger immunity against the germ in the vaccine. Aluminum is one of the most common metals found in nature and is present in air, food, and water. Scientific research has shown the amount of aluminum exposure in people who follow the recommended vaccine schedule is low and is not readily absorbed by the body.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:40 a.m. No.14545370   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14545367

>https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/adjuvants.html

An adjuvant is an ingredient used in some vaccines that helps create a stronger immune response in people receiving the vaccine.

 

>>14545360

>AS01-containing vaccines

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27448771/

Adjuvant system AS01: helping to overcome the challenges of modern vaccines

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:44 a.m. No.14545382   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14545367

>Aluminum-containing adjuvants are vaccine ingredients that have been used in vaccines since the 1930s. Small amounts of aluminum are added to help the body build stronger immunity against the germ in the vaccine. Aluminum is one of the most common metals found in nature and is present in air, food, and water. Scientific research has shown the amount of aluminum exposure in people who follow the recommended vaccine schedule is low and is not readily absorbed by the body.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22001122/

Updated aluminum pharmacokinetics following infant exposures through diet and vaccination

Aluminum is a ubiquitous element that is released naturally into the environment via volcanic activity and the breakdown of rocks on the earth's surface. Exposure of the general population to aluminum occurs primarily through the consumption of food, antacids, and buffered analgesics. Exposure to aluminum in the general population can also occur through vaccination, since vaccines often contain aluminum salts (frequently aluminum hydroxide or aluminum phosphate) as adjuvants. Because concerns have been expressed by the public that aluminum in vaccines may pose a risk to infants, we developed an up-to-date analysis of the safety of aluminum adjuvants. Keith et al. [1] previously analyzed the pharmacokinetics of aluminum for infant dietary and vaccine exposures and compared the resulting body burdens to those based on the minimal risk levels (MRLs) established by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. We updated the analysis of Keith et al. [1] with a current pediatric vaccination schedule [2]; baseline aluminum levels at birth; an aluminum retention function that reflects changing glomerular filtration rates in infants; an adjustment for the kinetics of aluminum efflux at the site of injection; contemporaneous MRLs; and the most recent infant body weight data for children 0-60 months of age [3]. Using these updated parameters we found that the body burden of aluminum from vaccines and diet throughout an infant's first year of life is significantly less than the corresponding safe body burden of aluminum modeled using the regulatory MRL. We conclude that episodic exposures to vaccines that contain aluminum adjuvant continue to be extremely low risk to infants and that the benefits of using vaccines containing aluminum adjuvant outweigh any theoretical concerns.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:49 a.m. No.14545390   🗄️.is 🔗kun

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/09/944379919/new-data-reveal-which-hospitals-are-dangerously-full-is-yours

Where Are Hospitals Overwhelmed By COVID-19 Patients? Look Up Your State

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:51 a.m. No.14545392   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5393 >>5412

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2021/09/08/judge-halts-floridas-enforcement-of-ban-on-school-face-mask-rules-again/

Judge halts Florida’s enforcement of ban on school face mask rules … again

Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis

A Florida judge ruled Wednesday that the state cannot enforce a ban on public schools mandating the use of masks to guard against the coronavirus, while an appeals court sorts out whether the ban is ultimately legal.

Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper lifted an automatic stay of his decision last week that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and state education officials exceeded their authority by imposing the blanket ban through executive order and tagging defiant pro-mask local school boards with financial penalties.

Cooper said the overwhelming evidence before him in a lawsuit by parents challenging the DeSantis ban is that wearing masks does provide some protection for children in crowded school settings, particularly those under 12 for whom no vaccine yet exists. The issue came to a head amid a recent surge in cases caused by the more contagious and deadly delta variant of the virus, which health statistics show has begun to wane.

“We’re not in normal times. We are in a pandemic,” Cooper said during a hearing held remotely. “We have a (coronavirus) variant that is more infectious and dangerous to children than the one we had last year.”

Since DeSantis signed the mandatory mask ban order on July 30, 13 school boards representing more than half of Florida’s 2.8 million students have adopted mask requirements with an opt-out only for medical reasons. State education officials have begun going after rebellious school board members’ salaries as a form of punishment.

Jacob Oliva, public schools chancellor at the state Department of Education, said in a notice last week to local superintendents that “enforcement must cease if the stay is lifted.” That includes the effort to dock salaries of school board members or impose other financial penalties.

The Education Department already began withholding funds from Broward and Alachua counties.

“I think for us as a district, we’re going to continue to move forward,” said Dr. Carlee Simon, the Alachua County School District superintendent. “But we are, you know, we’re optimistic. And we’re also just understanding that we are well in the middle of this process, and we need to just be patient and go through the process.”

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:51 a.m. No.14545393   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5396

>>14545392

Duval County Public Schools’ mask mandate went into effect Tuesday, despite being threatened with the same funding cuts. A district spokesperson released a statement that reads:

“We are obviously watching as things play out at the state level. However, we are doing everything possible to focus on teaching and learning and working toward those academic outcomes we want to see at the end of the year with our students.”

Simon said she’s hopeful that the district will get the money back that’s been withheld by the state.

The case next goes before the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. DeSantis said at an appearance Wednesday in Palm Harbor that he is confident the state will prevail. The matter could ultimately be decided by the Florida Supreme Court.

The core of the governor’s argument is that the recently passed Parents Bill of Rights gives decision-making authority to parents on whether their children should wear a mask to school.

“What we’ve found is in the trial courts in Tallahassee, state and federal, we typically lose if there’s a political component to it, but then in the appeals court we almost always win,” the governor said.

Cooper seemed to go out of his way to point out that he has frequently ruled in favor of Florida governors in the past, including cases involving GOP Govs. Jeb Bush and Rick Scott. Cooper has been a Leon County circuit judge since he was first elected in 2002.

“If you look at my record, it’s not somebody who runs all over the place, ruling against the governor,” Cooper said. “This case has generated a lot of heat and a lot of light.”

On the Parents Bill of Rights, Cooper said his previous order follows the law as passed earlier this year by the Legislature. The law, he said, reserves health and education decisions regarding children to parents unless a government entity such as a school board can show their broader action is reasonable and narrowly tailored to the issue at hand.

The DeSantis order impermissibly enforces only the first portion of that law, Cooper said.

“You have to show you have authority to do what you’re doing,” the judge said. “You cannot enforce part of that law but not all of it.”

In a separate case, parents of special needs children have filed a federal lawsuit claiming the DeSantis mandatory school mask ban violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by placing their medically sensitive children in jeopardy.

A federal judge in Miami did not immediately rule after a hearing Wednesday in that case.

Additionally, school officials in Broward, Alachua and Orange counties filed a petition to schedule a hearing before an administrative law judge. According to the filing, the local school officials want the judge to invalidate a state health department emergency rule against school mask requirements based on the governor’s executive order.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:52 a.m. No.14545396   🗄️.is 🔗kun

>>14545393

Gov. Ron DeSantis appeals judge’s ruling on masks in schools

Under the DeSantis executive order, state education officials have been seeking to penalize defiant school boards by withholding salaries of board members. As of Friday, 13 districts representing more than half of Florida’s 2.8 million public school students had imposed mask mandates despite the governor’s order that a parental opt-out must be included. Most have only an opt-out for medical reasons. Those counties included Alachua and Duval counties.

The rebel districts showed no signs of backing down, with some hiring lawyers to defend their decisions that often came after raucous public meetings pitting pro- and anti-mask parents against each other. Alachua County school Superintendent Carlee Simon, like others, insisted a mask mandate is permitted under the Parents Bill of Rights.

The judge’s ruling against the DeSantis order, she said in a statement, “confirms what we’ve said all along, which is that our mask mandate does not violate Florida law.”

DeSantis, who is gearing up for a 2022 re-election campaign and a possible 2024 presidential run, has dismissed the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that people generally wear masks to prevent coronavirus spread in certain situations. In particular, he contends that masks are less essential for young people and carry some risks of their own for children.

At a news conference Friday in Pensacola, DeSantis said he opposes broad government or business mandates on masks or anything else related to the coronavirus pandemic. He did not directly address the school mask debate.

“We’ve got to protect people’s ability to live their lives,” DeSantis said. “My philosophy is, as a governor, my job is to protect your individual freedom.”

The governor’s appeal came Thursday night after Cooper issued a written version of his order delivered orally last week. The judge found that the Parents Bill of Rights law exempts government actions that are needed to protect public health and are reasonable and limited in scope — such as masking students to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in schools.

In fact, Cooper wrote that the DeSantis order on school masks itself violates the Parents Bill of Rights by illegally constraining the actions of school boards.

“This statute does not support a statewide order or action interfering with the constitutionally provided authority of local school districts to provide for the safety and health of the children based on the unique facts on the ground in a particular county,” Cooper wrote.

In addition, the judge said school boards must be afforded a chance to contest any penalties levied against them for adopting a student mask mandate.

The appeals court did not immediately indicate when it would take up the governor’s appeal, which first must be filed in a full written document. The action taken Thursday night was a notice to the court that a detailed appeal of Cooper’s order is coming.

Also Friday, school officials in Broward, Alachua and Orange counties filed a petition to schedule a hearing before an administrative law judge. According to the filing, the local school officials want the judge to invalidate a state health department emergency rule based on the governor’s executive order.

Anonymous ID: 03d39b Sept. 9, 2021, 4:52 a.m. No.14545397   🗄️.is 🔗kun

The School District of Lee County has a constitutional duty, statutory authority and primary responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for all students and employees.

Since the start of this year, we have had students and staff members hospitalized, and have had employees pass away from this deadly virus. We have had to close 92 classrooms compared to 76 during the entire 2020-21 school year. This yields over a 1089% increase in weekly classroom closures during a surge in COVID-19 like we have never before experienced.

We view 30 days of temporary masking, during conditions far worse than at any point during this pandemic, as imperative to containing the spread of a highly contagious virus, and to protect and possibly save lives.

It is the position of this District that our temporary masking requirement, along with all our other mitigation efforts, is necessary, reasonable, narrowly tailored and least restrictive to address the health crisis in our community.

 

Rob Spicker, spokesperson for the School District of Lee County