Education Secretary Miguel Cardona criticized two Republican governors Thursday for banning mask mandates in their states, arguing that their actions are preventing children from safely returning to school.

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       Cardona made the remarks in response to a question from a reporter about the recent moves by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). The more contagious delta variant coupled with vaccine holdouts have led to a national surge in coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths in recent weeks, with Texas and Florida among the hardest-hit states.

       “You know, don’t be the reason why schools are interrupted,” Cardona told reporters in the White House briefing room when asked about his message to DeSantis and Abbott. “Our kids have suffered enough. Let’s do what we know works. Let’s do what we know works across the country. Politics doesn’t have a role in this. Educators know what to do.”

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       Abbott signed an executive order last week prohibiting cities and other government entities in Texas from enacting vaccine requirements or mask mandates to protect against the coronavirus.

       The following day, DeSantis signed an order allowing Florida’s education officials to withhold funds from school boards that impose mask mandates in violation of the new rules.

       “Why would we have the government force masks on our kids when many of these kids are already immune through prior infection, they’re at virtually zero risk of significant illness and when virtually every school personnel had access to vaccines for months and months?” DeSantis said at a news conference Friday.

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       In an exchange with reporters after an event at the White House on Thursday afternoon, President Biden dismissed DeSantis’s criticism that the federal government is interfering in state affairs by pushing back against the banning of mask mandates.

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       “Governor who?” Biden said with a laugh when asked about DeSantis’s remarks.

       The risk of significant illness for children with the virus is low but it remains possible: More than 16,000 children have been hospitalized with the coronavirus in 24 states and New York City as of July 22, according to a database from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.

       Late last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance urging everyone in school buildings to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status, a response to growing concerns over the highly contagious delta variant. That was a shift from guidance issued just three weeks earlier, when the agency said only unvaccinated people in school buildings needed masks.

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       The new guidelines have left school leaders across the country embroiled in debates over whether to require masks, and some school districts in Florida have announced that they will either keep or issue new mask mandates in defiance of DeSantis’s threat to cut funds.

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       Cardona said Thursday that he has “calls out” to Texas and Florida and wants to work with both states “to make sure those students have access to in-person learning.”

       “So, at the end of the day, we’re all in this together. … We’re talking about students being in classrooms,” he said. “They’ve suffered enough. It’s time for them to be in the classroom without disruption to their learning.”

       Moriah Balingit and Meryl Kornfield contributed to this report.