Travelers make their way through the Miami International Airport before starting the Labor Day weekend on September 03, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
A federal judge in Florida on Monday vacated the Biden administration’s national mask mandate for planes and other forms of public transportation, arguing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had overstepped its authority.
The ruling comes less than a week after the CDC had decided to extend the mandate for 15 days, amid a rise in Covid infections nationwide due to the more contagious omicron BA.2 subvariant.
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said the CDC had failed to adequately explain its decisions and violated the procedures for federal agencies to issue rules. Mizelle was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2020.
While state and local authorities across the country have lifted mask mandates, the CDC decided last week to keep the federal requirements for public transportation in place through May 3. The agency said it needed time to assess whether the rise in Covid infections across the country will result in a spike of severe illness that could impact hospital capacity.
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