Within 24 hours, two teachers, a teaching assistant, and a graduate of Broward County Public Schools in Florida have died after testing positive for COVID-19, the local teacher’s union president told CNN. The three educators were unvaccinated. The recent deaths, like the some 1,000 reported last week throughout the state, have done little to motivate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to reverse his stance after banning schools from implementing mask requirements. Named in a lawsuit over the anti-masking ban, DeSantis has until Monday to defend his position, Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ordered and The Associated Press reported. Plaintiffs in the case, mostly parents, have been clear on their position.

“The Florida Constitution requires that state entities and public officials, who are charged with overseeing the funding and operations of public education, ensure that Florida’s schools operate safely,” they said in the lawsuit. “Defendants cannot legally deny students, public school staff, their family members and the public with whom they come in contact within the public school system their basic human needs for health and safety.”

Broward County School Board Chair Rosalind Osgood told CNN on Friday that the district, which is slated to reopen schools for their first day back on Wednesday, will continue to require masks in defiance of the governor’s mandate. “The eight of us on our board are adamant that we cannot have people in schools without masks because we are living backlash of people dying with Covid,” Osgood said. “You can’t take a risk with peoples’ lives.

“We feel strongly that the lives of our students and staff are invaluable, and we’re not willing to play Russian roulette with their lives or take a risk of losing people because we have people in schools without masks,” she added.

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On Sunday, CNN invited teachers in states banning mask requirements—Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas—to share their experiences. Victoria, from Palm Beach County, Florida, repeated DeSantis’ remarks supporting a ban on mandated masks in school. He said that we “need our kids to breathe.” Victoria responded: “I immediately thought, ‘How can they breathe if they’re dead?’ I know that’s so morbid and so dark, but that’s the reality.”

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Julie, from Houston, told CNN:

I don’t see how the governor has the power to tell the school districts what to do, it’s ridiculous. It’s a public health issue. The least we could do is to wear masks. Those work. The kids all wore them last year and they didn’t have any problem. Not one kid. And I have older students, they’re seniors. When the kids have more sense than the district, you have wonder what the school district’s doing. And I hate to say this, but for Texas, it’s going to take children dying for the governor to take that no mask mandate away.”

Jessica M., a nurse practitioner, also gave a detailed account of what she encountered just two nights ago with one of her patients. “Tonight I helplessly held the hand of and stroked the hair of a beautiful 14 year old girl as she exited this world,” the nurse tweeted. “She was looking forward to starting high school and eventually becoming a veterinarian. It was so senseless! I truly believe she could have been saved if her parents had not forbidden us from intubating her.

Jessica M. added in a series of tweets:

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