A federal judge has overruled the CDC's federal mask mandate for airlines and other public transportation with the TSA saying that they will no longer enforce the mandates. CNBC. The judge said that CDC did not provide enough reasoning to justify the mandate and did not allow the public to comment on the rule change. The CDC says it will still recommend masks on planes. The mandate had just been extended to May 3rd but is now gone. The mandate was one of the few still in effect for the United States despite a major drop in cases and weaker coronavirus variants being widespread.
WATCH: Passengers applaud as Delta flight crew announces masks are optional, effective immediately
— Election Wizard 🇺🇸 (@ElectionWiz) April 19, 2022
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My Comment:
Much like yesterday's post about China's lockdown, the CDC's mask mandate made no sense. The Coronavirus is now endemic and the current variants aren't a threat to anyone but the most weak and vulnerable people in the country. It is somewhere between a flu and a cold in terms of severity.
The other problem is that I don't think masks do all that much. The viral particles are small enough that they can get through cloth masks and even n-95 masks. They may help a little but given the almost zero threat for people that have either been exposed to the virus and/or have been vaccinated, there is no reason to keep the masks. We don't enforce masking for cold viruses or flu viruses and it's clear that the current strains of the virus are at that level now.
It's strange that the government was still pushing the mask mandate. The virus is nowhere near the threat it once was and masks did very little. I know there is an argument that planes and other forms of public transportation are especially good for spreading the virus but I am not even sure that is true. In airplanes at least the air goes through filters pretty often so it probably isn't any worse than being that close to a large number of people inside a building.
The other thing is that pretty much all other mandates have been gotten rid of. I know for me personally I haven't worn a mask outside of work for more than a year and I haven't worn one at work for months. I also haven't heard of anyone even getting the virus since the winter. For all intents and purposes the pandemic is over.
I am glad that the Biden administration appears to have admitted that they have lost here. I don't know if they will file an appeal but they are at least following the judges ruling. Biden has ignored those rulings before when he feels like it. At least in this case he hasn't ordered the TSA to ignore the ruling.
As for myself, I might actually decide to take a vacation this year. I haven't been on one since my trip to Las Vegas in 2017. I was planning one for 2020 but that was ruined by the pandemic and I told myself I was not going to fly until the restrictions have been lifted. With the restrictions finally gone I might be able to take a trip this year.
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