Florida governor says parents can send asymptomatic kids exposed to COVID-19 back to school

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that the state has put out a revised rule which follows a 'symptom-based approach' to quarantining students, meaning asymptomatic children exposed to COVID-19 in classrooms could be sent back to school by parents.

"If somebody is symptomatic, of course they stay home. If there's a close contact, but somebody has not developed any symptoms -- you monitor them, you notify the parent," DeSantis said. "The parent always has the right to have their kids stay home, if they think that's in the best interest of the student and the family 100 per cent, we would not want to intrude on that. But if a parent has a healthy child, that child has a right to be in school."

DeSantis said the new policy recognizes that quarantining healthy students is "incredibly damaging" for students' educational advancement and disruptive for families.

Dr. Joe Ladapo, Florida's new state surgeon general and Department of Health secretary, said, "It's also important to respect the rights of parents as the governor described.

"We respect that some parents may be less comfortable sending their kid back to school after being exposed. And so the new rule allows for those parents to keep their children home for a period of time. And the new role also allows for parents who are more comfortable letting their healthy child return to school," Lapado said.