Florida GOP Lawmaker Pushes Back Against State's 'Epicenter' Status After Calling Masks 'Annoying'

Florida State Representative Anthony Sabatini pushed back against his state's "epicenter" status, despite the state's Department of Health reporting the largest single-day increase in hospitalizations on Wednesday, July 15.

In an interview on CNN's Newsroom, Sabatini told Brianna Keilar that calling Florida an "epicenter" is "a false assessment entirely."

"I don't even know what you mean by 'epicenter.' The whole world is dealing with this issue right now. There's going to be a lot of cases in places of high populations," the GOP lawmaker added.

He said that the media has only talked about case positivity, as opposed the "two most important metrics"—hospitalizations and fatalities.

According to health officials, Florida hospitals have added 453 COVID-19 patients on Wednesday, July 15, bringing the state's total to 19,334 hospitalizations over the course of the pandemic. The day before, the state's department of health recorded the highest number of coronavirus deaths in a day.

When asked if he wears a face mask to the grocery store, Sabatini replied "absolutely not" because he finds them "annoying" and "hard to breathe" in.

He said that while he is accepting of voluntary or incentivized mask wearing, he does not think citizens should be required by the law to don a face mask.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has refused to issue a statewide face mask order despite the state's growing status as a coronavirus hot spot. The state currently holds the record for the highest single-day total of confirmed cases in the country.

Local officials, however, have taken it upon themselves to implement mandates across 58 cities and 19 counties in the state.

Sabatini went on to say that he also thinks the economy should be "100 percent open."

DeSantis was forced to reverse Florida's reopening plan after case counts rose, ordering bars to close again on June 26.

Florida has reported 301,810 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 4,251 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the state's department of health.

Sabatini said he did think there is "some importance" to face masks as an effort to contain the outbreak but that "the media has grossly exaggerated their effect." He said that wearing a mask, which has been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is "just a drop in the bucket in terms of precautions you can take."

Sabatini has been involved in several lawsuits against mandatory masks in Orange Leon Hillsborough and St. Augustine counties and has continued to publicly refer to mask advocates as "mask-Nazis."

Newsweek reached out to Sabatini for comment but did not hear back before publication.