Mask Mandate for Public Travel Just Got Ditched

Federal judge voids rule, says health officials overstepped authority
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 18, 2022 1:20 PM CDT
Federal Judge Voids Mask Mandate for Public Travel
Travelers at O'Hare airport in Chicago in this photo from July 2021.   (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

A federal judge in Florida has voided the national mask mandate covering airplanes and other public transportation as exceeding the authority of US health officials even in the coronavirus pandemic, per the AP. The decision Monday by US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, an appointee of former President Trump, also said the CDC improperly failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rulemaking. In her 59-page ruling, Mizelle said the only remedy was to vacate the rule entirely because it would be impossible to end it for the limited group of people who objected to it in the lawsuit.

“Because our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends, the court declares unlawful and vacates the mask mandate,” she wrote. The CDC recently extended the mask mandate, which was set to expire Monday, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron subvariant of the coronavirus that is now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the US. The mask requirement for travelers was the target of months of lobbying from the airlines, which sought to kill it.

The carriers argued that effective air filters on modern planes make transmission of the virus during a flight highly unlikely. Republicans in Congress also fought to kill the mandate. Critics have seized on the fact that states have rolled back rules requiring masks in restaurants, stores, and other indoor settings, and yet COVID-19 cases have fallen sharply since the omicron variant peaked in mid-January. (Philadelphia just reinstated its mask mandate for indoor public spaces.)

(More mask mandates stories.)

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