About 15 minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, the county was notified that many in the audience of about 100-150 people were not wearing facial coverings or masks, Palm Beach County Deputy Director of Public Affairs John Jamason told CNN in a statement.
During the event, DeSantis spoke about his “Seniors First” vaccine initiative and Covid-19.
“We need to start doing really big events again. We have the seniors protected, or going to be. We gotta start doing it right,” DeSantis told the crowd to cheers of support as he also promised to return to Palm Beach County to sign a proposed election reform bill into law.
CNN has reached out to DeSantis’ office for comment.
“We have spoken to Hilton management and will be following up with them and event organizers in accordance with our normal compliance procedures,” Jamason said.
A Hilton Palm Beach Airport spokesperson said in an email to CNN that, in part, “We have been made aware of video that appears to show a group of individuals within close proximity of one another and not wearing masks. We are disappointed in their apparent failure to comply with our mask regulations which are prominently displayed throughout the hotel. Moving forward, we will continue to do our best to monitor and enforce these guidelines as long as they remain in place.”
