WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Monday, a federal judge in Florida originally appointed to her post by former President Donald Trump struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) mask mandate for travel on planes, trains, buses, and other transportation.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle stated in her decision that the CDC had exceeded its authority when they originally issued the mandate, and differed with the CDC on the legal definition of the word “sanitation” as it pertains to the function of masks.
“Wearing a mask cleans nothing,” she wrote in her decision on Monday. “At most, it traps virus droplets. But it neither ‘sanitizes’ the person wearing the mask nor ‘sanitizes’ the conveyance.”
The CDC had recently extended the mask mandate until May 3 in order to allow more time for the organization to study the new BA.2 omicron subvariant that is now driving the majority of new cases of COVID-19 in the United States.
Since Mizelle’s ruling, multiple companies in the transportation industry – including most airlines, airports, and ride-sharing services – have announced that they will no longer be enforcing mask mandates, effective immediately.
Both Uber and Lyft announced Tuesday that masks will now be optional for riders and drivers, effective immediately, with Lyft removing lack of mask-wearing as a option for cancellation from their app.
The Amtrak rail system also announced Tuesday that passengers and employees are no longer required to wear masks, but nonetheless said in a statement that anyone “needing or choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so.”
Multiple airlines also stated on Tuesday that they would no longer require mask-wearing for either passengers or employees on domestic and some international flights, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and JetBlue Airways.
However, all of the aforementioned airlines have stated that some local ordinances may still require mask-wearing, as well as some international flights depending on the country they are traveling to.
In the typical response, lamestream media has immediately attacked Judge Mizelle as being “unqualified” for the job she holds saying that her “shambles” ruling has now created a “MAGA Travel Nightmare.”
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