Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
After Florida surgeon general refuses mask, senator sick with cancer tells him to leave
Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo was asked to leave a meeting after refusing to wear a mask at the office of a state senator who told him she had a serious medical condition.
Democratic state Sen. Tina Polsky told Associated Press about the tense exchange with Ladapo that was first reported by the news site Florida Politics.
Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson backed Polsky, D-Boca Ration, who is being treated for breast cancer.
Simpson, R-Trilby, sent a memo Saturday night to senators and staff members that did not mention Ladapo by name but criticized the refusal to put on a mask after being asked by Polsky.
“The prayers of the entire Senate family are with Senator Polsky as she begins her treatment,” Simpson wrote. “However, it shouldn’t take a cancer diagnosis for people to respect each other’s level of comfort with social interactions during a pandemic.
“What occurred in Senator Polsky’s office was unprofessional and will not be tolerated in the Senate. While there is no mask mandate in the Senate, senators and staff can request social distancing and masking within their own offices. If visitors to the Senate fail to respect these requests, they will be asked to leave.”
Polsky announced last week that she had been diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer and had undergone a procedure to have the tumor and lymph nodes removed. She said she would begin targeted radiation treatment in the coming days.
Florida Politics reported Saturday that Polsky asked Ladapo and two of his legislative aides to leave her office after the surgeon general refused to go along with her request to wear a mask. The website also reported that Polsky was taking precautions because a positive test for COVID-19 could delay treatment.
Ladapo, appointed recently by Gov. Ron DeSantis, has been openly skeptical about masks as protection against the COVID-19 pandemic and questioned the effectiveness of vaccines.
Polsky, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, had not yet made public her breast cancer diagnosis.
She said Ladapo and two aides were offered masks and asked to wear them when they arrived for the Wednesday meeting.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cancer patients are at a higher risk to get severely ill from COVID-19 and may not build the same immunity with vaccines.