Florida Judge Overturns Mask Mandate On Planes
Think flying can’t get worse? A Trump-appointed judge (whom he appointed after he lost the election in November of 2020) just ended the mask mandate on all public transportation, stating that the CDC “failed to adequately explain its reasons for the mandate.” With the BA.2 COVID variant already causing surges across the county, expect the numbers to rise exponentially this month. Via CNBC:
A federal judge in Florida on Monday vacated the Biden administration’s national Covid mask mandate for planes and other forms of public transportation, ruling that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had overstepped its authority.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa said the CDC had failed to adequately explain its reasons for the mandate, and did not allow public comment in violation of federal procedures for issuing new rules. Mizelle was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2020.
The court’s ruling comes less than a week after the CDC extended the mask mandate for 15 days, amid a rise in Covid infections nationwide due to the more contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant. The U.S. reported a seven-day average of nearly 35,000 new infections as of Friday, a 36% increase over the past two weeks, according to data from the CDC.
[CNBC: Florida judge overturns CDC mask mandate for planes and public transit]
