Airlines drop mask mandates as Court stops requirement

Following a ruling on Monday by a Court in Florida stopping CDC’s mask mandate for passengers on planes and transit agencies, U.S  largest airlines have dropped the mask mandate, making them now optional.

On Monday, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump-appointed judge, wrote in her ruling that the CDC overstepped its powers with the initial guidance.

“Our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends,” she said in the ruling. The Biden Administration later announced that the Transportation Security Administration would stop enforcing the mandate, while it is still unclear if the Justice Department will appeal the decision.

“We’re reviewing the decision and going to decline to comment any further,” Danielle Blevins, spokeswoman for the agency, told Insider.

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The ruling has largely put the onus on individual airlines, customers, and transit agencies to decide on how to enforce guidelines as companies and agencies brace to see whether the government will appeal.

With the ruling, passengers on airplanes, trains and other public transportation in the U.S. don’t have to wear masks anymore, after the federal judge struck down the mandate.

The requirement was implemented by the Biden administration in February 2021 and had been extended multiple times and challenged in court.

The Airlines, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue Airlines and Amtrak have all issued statements making the mask mandate optional.

Meanwhile, statistics released by the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that a total of 1,226,314 reports of adverse events following COVID vaccines were submitted between Dec. 14, 2020, and April 8, 2022, to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

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The data included a total of 26,976 reports of deaths — an increase of 277 over the previous week — and 219,865 serious injuries, including deaths, during the same time period — up 2,564 compared with the previous week.

Excluding “foreign reports” to VAERS, 805,921 adverse events, including 12,471 deaths and 79,811 serious injuries, were reported in the U.S. between Dec. 14, 2020, and April 8, 2022.

Of the 12,471 U.S. deaths reported as of April 8, 17% occurred within 24 hours of vaccination, 21% occurred within 48 hours of vaccination and 59% occurred in people who experienced an onset of symptoms within 48 hours of being vaccinated.