With the CDC having already extended the current mask mandate until May 3, this ruling looks to block the mask mandate even before that. So, what does this mean?
Judge Blocks the Mask Mandate
With some already saying that the CDC had said they will appeal, currently there is no official word if they will appeal this ruling that was just made.
The ruling was made by US District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle. This was a case brought before the Florida federal court by the Health Freedom Defense Fund, Inc along with two travelers, Ana Daza and Sarah Pope.
The judge ruled that the CDC had applied flawed reasoning to their perspective of the cases and the Public Health Services Act of 1944 that had given the CDC the basis for their mask mandate in the first place.
You can read more about it here but my guess is we will know more in the next 24 hours, if the administration will let the ruling stand and use that as their way of letting the mask mandate go or if they will appeal it to fight it. At this point, with unions, airline executives, doctors, and the traveling public largely against the mask mandate (and several states bringing suit against the Biden administration as well), I find it hard to believe that it would be a viable route to take. At present, the mask mandate is set to expire in just 2 weeks and, while an appeal could allow it to stand during the process, is it the best use of resources?
I am certainly not a lawyer so I will not pretend that I am. Any lawyers that are reading this, certainly chime in with your legal perspectives on this case!
At any rate, it could be sooner than we thought that the mandatory use of masks on airplanes (and trains and in airports/depots/etc) will go away.
Halleluljah
Next is get rid of those pre depature COVID tests prior to entering the US….what a waste