On Tuesday, 21 states filed a suit to end the federal mandate requiring people to wear masks when traveling on most modes of public transportation, including airplanes and buses. The mandate was extended through April 18.
The plaintiff named includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Transportation Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security.
Most mask mandates have been updated, and the only federal mandate that really stays in place is the mask mandate for public transportation.
Airlines have been supportive of the states seeking to end the mandate. Last week, executives from 10 airlines and the American Public Transportation Association sent letters to Biden urging him to end pandemic-related travel policies including mask mandates.
The new 30-page suit filed in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida calls the mandate “arbitrary and capricious.”
The 21 states that filed the suit are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
Children younger than 2 and people with certain disabilities are exempt from the mask requirement, and the government has yet to actually announce a COVID-19 endemic.
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