After a federal court verdict that effectively abolished the federal transportation mask regulation, some airlines and Amtrak proposed to make masks optional on their mass transit systems on Monday evening.
Masks will not be mandatory for passengers and personnel as well as in airports, according to United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and JetBlue Airways. Amtrak also stated that masks will be optional for passengers and train staff.
In a statement, Alaska airlines mentioned that the mask regulation has been rejected by a judicial ruling in the federal court system, which implies all guests and employees can wear a mask when traveling in the United States and at work.
Max Tidwell, vice president of safety and security for Alaska Airlines, said in a statement that it has been a lengthy 24 months loaded with almost continual change. He couldn’t be more pleased with their frontline personnel, who have handled every pivot while maintaining their reputation for safety and caring.
In an email to The Hill, United Airlines also verified that “masks are not at all necessary” on domestic flights and “certain foreign flights,” as well as at US airports, “effective immediately.”
Delta Air Lines said that masks are no longer mandatory for crew members, passengers, as well as airport employees within U.S. airports on all domestic and most international flights.
American Airlines also stated on Monday that face masks will no longer be necessary for all passengers and team members at U.S. airports as well as on domestic flights.
In accordance with the court’s order, JetBlue Airways has declared that masks will henceforth be optional.
Passengers and crew members on board are free to continue wearing a mask at the airports and on board the flights, even though they are no longer needed, the airline claimed in a statement obtained by The Hill.
The New York Times stated that Amtrak, a federally subsidized rail system, has also announced that masks will no longer be necessary.
Amtrak will make masks optional for personnel and travellers onboard trains and in stations, according to a spokesperson for the rail system who added that “masks are encouraged and remain a critical preventive step against COVID-19.”
The verdict came the same day that a federal judge in Florida, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, overturned the CDC’s mask requirement for air, rail, and bus travel.
The government argued for a broader meaning of “sanitation,” which would include illness prevention, but Mizelle said that the term was “limited to cleaning methods.”
“Wearing a mask cleans nothing,” the appointee of former President Trump wrote.
The CDC nevertheless “recommends that individuals continue wearing masks in indoor public transit settings” even if the mask regulation will no longer be enforced.
