Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Tuesday that he wants to permanently ban numerous safety measures meant to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including mask and vaccine mandates.

When the world lost its mind, Florida was a refuge of sanity, serving strongly as freedoms linchpin, he said at a press conference, according to CNN . These measures will ensure Florida remains this way and will provide landmark protections for free speech for medical practitioners.

DeSantis emerged as a darling of the Republican Party in part through his opposition to federal pandemic guidelines. He previously enacted temporary executive orders to ban COVID-19 safety precautions and now hopes to make the policies permanent.

We believe that there is no turning back from our direction, DeSantis said at the press conference. And we need to lead with this. We need to lead with this by making all these protections permanent in state statute, which we are going to do in the upcoming legislative session.

The governor added that he plans to encourage the Republican-held Florida House and Senate to support his policies, which include banning COVID-19 passports formerly required for travel and prohibiting employers from hiring or firing workers based on their vaccination status.