The Biden admin ( CDC) had just extended the mask requirement….
But mandates ARE NOT politically popular these days….
Health wise?
Virus cases ARE increasing…
(Hospital stays and Death’s are holding steady downward)
But?
Americans REALLY do NOT want go back to them….
Airlines and Amatak are dropping the requirement….
TSA will not press things….
A federal judge in Florida struck down the mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses and other public transportation on Monday, less than a week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had extended it through May 3.
The ruling left it up to individual airlines and local transit agencies to decide what to do, and by late Monday, the nation’s largest airlines had dropped their mask requirements for domestic flights. The Amtrak rail system said passengers and employees would no longer need to wear masks.
In a 59-page decision, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, voided the mandate — which also applies to airports, train stations and other transportation hubs — nationwide on several grounds, including that the agency had exceeded its legal authority under the Public Health Services Act of 1944. Because of the ruling, the masking order was not in effect for the time being, and the Transportation Security Administration would not enforce it, a Biden administration official said on Monday evening.
The official said that the administration was still reviewing the decision and assessing whether to appeal it, and that the C.D.C. still recommended that people wear masks in enclosed public transportation settings.
It remained unclear to what extent local transportation agencies would seek to keep their mandates in place. Earlier in the day, before the administration official said the T.S.A. would not enforce the mandate, several state and local transit agencies across the country suggested they would keep their mask requirements for now.
Still, governments and businesses across the nation have largely loosened precautions, and now new known coronavirus cases are sharply rising again….
Folloow Up on the mask thing….
Airports vary on mask guidance following court ruling
Biden on whether people should mask on planes: ‘That’s up to them’
White House pushes back against Delta statement that called COVID ‘an ordinary seasonal virus’
(The Delta statment is probably more of the truth around the country as mask and other restrictions fall…With case numbers climbing)
Breaking…..
The Biden admin has told the Justice Department to appeal the Florida Federal judge striking down the CDC and Government transportation‘mask wearing rule……
Hmmmm?
White House Won’t Rule Out Appealing Mask Decision
“White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday didn’t rule out appealing a federal judge’s ruling that struck down the CDC’s mask requirement for planes, trains and other public transportation, saying that the Biden administration is awaiting a decision from the Justice Department about how to proceed,” Politico reports.
Vox: The Trump judge’s opinion striking down the airplane mask mandate is a legal disaster.
Politicalwire
(from a legal point pf view Biden could go for an appeal…From a political point of view the loss probably help’s him)