As Goes Florida, So Goes Virginia?
With Youngkin pushing to do away with mask mandates, Arlington County resists
A showdown between Virginia’s new Republican governor and one of Northern Virginia’s largest — and most Democratic counties — is fast-appearing on the horizon, in a replay of the recent battles seen in Florida.
Once he was sworn in Saturday, Gov Glenn Youngkin signed a raft of new executive orders, including an order to ban any mask mandates in the Old Dominion.
However, Arlington County Public Schools — a district of more than 28,000 students — has no intention to back away from its mask mandate.
The district made its position clear in a message posted to its website:
“Arlington County Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety,” the message read. “Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open.”
Arlington's defiance of his new order has not gone unnoticed by Youngkin.
The brand new governor reportedly is looking at using state resources to force compliance — although specifics are not yet clear.
These battle lines may be new to Virginia, but they're quite familiar to millions of residents of Florida, where at least five school boards, some in the state’s most populous areas, have mask mandates that openly defy an order from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis seeking to make masks optional in schools.
This could well prove an early political, as well as legal, test for Virginia's brand new executive, given that Arlington County is a jurisdiction which he lost overwhelmingly in last year's election against Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
Just how much political capital does Youngkin want to spend on this issue?
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