Passengers on planes, trains and buses are facing a confusing patchwork of mask rules across the country now that airlines are no longer enforcing President Biden’s COVID-19 mask mandate, which a federal judge struck down on Monday.
In some cases, travelers and commuters have to don masks partway through their trips.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, announced that passengers on NJ Transit trains would no longer be required to wear masks, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City held firm. It cited New York state rules on mask-wearing despite the ruling that invalidated the federal mandate on public transportation.
That means commuters could travel by train across the Hudson River in Manhattan without a mask and then face a mandate once they hop onto the subway to get across the city.
Folks traveling south from New York face a citywide mask mandate once they arrive in Philadelphia. Local officials said the BA.2 variant-fueled surge in COVID-19 cases tipped the city into a higher alert level, so they broke with national trends and reimposed a public indoor mask rule this week even though the Pennsylvania state mandate ended in June.
Masks are optional on Amtrak’s national train network and D.C. Metro trains operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
SEE ALSO: Judge voids federal mask mandate for public transportation
“Our mask mandate has been based on federal guidance,” Metro General Manager and CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld said. “We will continue to monitor this situation as it unfolds, but masks will be optional on Metro property until further notice.”
The transit rule trickled down to Uber, which said Tuesday that riders and drivers of the ride-hailing service are no longer required to wear masks.
Major airlines are telling passengers they can ditch masks after a Biden administration official late Monday said the Transportation Security Administration wouldn’t enforce the rule while the Department of Justice considers an appeal of the court order out of Florida.
Air carriers said they need time to switch signage and get the word out to workers and customers. They also said people who choose to mask up should be respected.
“Given the unexpected nature of this announcement, please be aware that customers, airline employees and federal agency employees, such as TSA, may be receiving this information at different times,” Delta Air Lines said. “You may experience inconsistent enforcement during the next 24 hours as this news is more broadly communicated — remember to show understanding and patience with others who may not be aware enforcement is no longer required.”
Airlines also said passengers should expect caveats.
SEE ALSO: Major U.S. airlines ditch mask mandates after court ruling
Alaska Airlines said masks are required on flights to and from Canada but are optional otherwise.
Because planes cross many borders, airlines warned that mask rules might depend on the departure site or destination.
“Please note face masks may still be required based on local ordinances, or when traveling to/from certain international locations based on country requirements,” American Airlines said.
Transportation hubs are trying to unpack it all after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump appointee, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority and did not justify issuing the advice that underpins the mask mandate. She said the mandate ran afoul of federal law because the CDC did not adhere to the Administrative Procedures Act when issuing the order.
Biden administration officials had extended the mask mandate for two weeks — to May 3 — instead of letting it expire Monday. Officials said they needed to understand the trajectory of the BA.2 variant, which is causing a slow but steady rise in COVID-19 cases.
The White House said the Department of Justice will consider an appeal to the judge’s order ending the mandate for masks, but outside groups urged the administration to accept the ruling as another step toward treating COVID-19 as a manageable disease in society.
Mr. Biden has continued to hold indoor events at the White House and the CDC does not recommend universal masking in much of the country, making the transportation rule an outlier.
“The current decision to halt enforcement of the federal mask mandate effectively returns the choice of mask usage on planes and other forms of public transportation to travelers and travel industry workers, a further step toward endemic management of COVID,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice president for public affairs and policy at the U.S. Travel Association. “We also continue to urge the administration to immediately end pre-departure testing for vaccinated inbound international passengers, which discourages travel and provides limited public health benefits.”
A coalition of more than 300 pilots and flight attendants applauded the ruling. Still, the coalition continued to file papers in a federal appeals court lawsuit saying the rules are hard to enforce and masks are difficult to wear for hours on end.
Janviere Carlin, a JetBlue pilot in Boston who is coordinating the legal effort, said the pilots and flight attendants want to enjoin the TSA from ever issuing another mask mandate “because we are not fooled into thinking that this administration will give up so easily.”
• Alex Swoyer contributed to this report.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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