Florida governor Desantis asks students to take off masks, calls it “Covid theater”

(KYMA, KECY/ CNN) - Florida governor Ron Desantis asked some students at the University of South Florida to take off their masks when there to talk about cybersecurity on Wednesday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends masks for the area, due to high community transmission but before Desantis began speaking at the school, he was overheard commenting to the students about their masks.

Here is what he said:

"You do not have to wear those masks. I mean, please take them off," said Desantis. "Honestly, it's not doing anything and we gotta stop with this Covid theater. If you wanna wear it, fine. But this is, this is ridiculous."

A few of the students removed their masks, while a few others kept them on.

Last week, governor Desantis released his own policy discouraging mask-wearing. The campaign is called "Buck the CDC."