ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge in Florida has voided the national mask mandate covering airplanes and other public transportation as exceeding the authority of U.S. health officials in the coronavirus pandemic.
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The decision Monday by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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.
The judge said “a limited remedy would be no remedy at all” and that the courts have full authority to make a decision such as this — even if the goals of the CDC in fighting the virus are laudable.
“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 Justice Department declined to comment Monday when asked if the government planned to appeal the ruling.
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 U.S.
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.
There have been a series of violent incidents on aircraft that have mainly been attributed to disputes over the mask-wearing requirements.
The lawsuit was filed in July 2021 by two plaintiffs and the Health Freedom Defense Fund, described in the judge’s order as a nonprofit group that “opposes laws and regulations that force individuals to submit to the administration of medical products, procedures and devices against their will.”
We the people are rising up and won’t stand for a China like kind of lock down. No more mandates. Covid is over for all intense purposes. Thank you brave Canadian truck drivers. You started a movement
God bless trump once again. We’ll be living with the benefits of his sanity for years to come. Even if this goes to the Supreme Court it has no shot even with the stupid lady that doesn’t know what a woman is
About time.
TSA now says they will no longer require masks
If you voted blue this world is for you!!! Trump 2024
Better late than never, still it’s way too late. It’s hard to understand how educated Americans can be that stupid and inflict pain on so many people for no apparent reason, they all knew it that these masks doesn’t help in any way, and people are almost suffocating themselves in their masks on hours and hours flying, but interestingly enough the virus was not being transmitted while eating… Anyhow, let’s be thankful that this stupid mandate is over.
I agree. Paper masks are useless for Omicron especially in the enclosed space of an airplane despite the supposedly outstanding air filtration systems. But I will continue to wear my N95 until this virus is maintained at a minimum level of transmission. No matter what the wisdom of this decision and of the outcomes, even if completely justifying the removal of the mask mandates, Trump is still a buffoon whose politicization of this pandemic is shameful and was disastrous early in in this disaster. He should be removed from the political stage forever.