The decision by a lone judge in Florida toppled 14 months of government insistence that travelers wear masks to reduce transmission of COVID-19.
In a 59-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, Florida, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority in issuing the original health order that the Transportation Security Administration used to impose the mask mandate. She said the CDC didn’t follow proper rulemaking procedures.
Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said planes can carry the virus from place to place, but that we should be focusing more on big indoor events such as concerts and sporting events — even large weddings — where people get together and talk, shout and sing.The CDC continues to recommend that people mask up indoors while traveling.
Industry officials don’t expect that. They say that there could be a small number of people who will start flying now because they don’t have to wear a mask, but that will be offset by a few people deciding not to fly if others are unmasked. The Justice Department said Tuesday it won’t appeal Mizelle’s ruling unless the CDC believes that the mask requirement is still necessary. The announcement doesn’t mean that an appeal is certain, but it signals that one could be filed if the CDC decides later that the mandate should be revived.