Not With A Bang But A Whimper

If you think about it, the story abut a federal judge striking down the mask mandate for airlines and other transit yesterday was pure dog-bites-man. Federal and state courts have been doing this throughout the course of the pandemic, with at best mixed results. In September 2020, Pennsylvania federal judge William S Stickman IV struck down state COVID restrictions on businesses and assembly, but an appeals court promptly stayed the order.

This has been the story throughout the panic. The various measures imposed by governments, from lockdowns to business closures to social distancing to masking to vaccinations have all proved ineffective in curing COVID, but attempts to mitigate them via the courts have been inconclusive. The man-bites-dog in the story is that now nobody's going to try to stay Judge Kimball's ruling. It appears that the public is finally willing to accept that the pandemic is over, more or less. The airlines, which had been petitioning the CDC to drop the mask mandate, have announced they will no longer enforce it, and the TSA has followed suit at airports.

Amtrak as of today has announced,

While Amtrak passengers and employees are no longer required to wear masks while on board trains or in stations, masks are welcome and remain an important preventive measure against COVID-19. Anyone needing or choosing to wear one is encouraged to do so.

Metrolink, the Los Angeles-area rail transit agency, has announced it will no longer enforce a mask requirement, but I'd learned from a Facebook friend who took a selfie on a train without his mask last week that staff had not been enforcing the requirement for some weeks. However, most other California transit agencies say they're "waiting for guidance". In fact, this seems to be the case nationally. The impression I have, though, is that the administration won't pursue this:

An official with President Joe Biden’s administration said Monday evening that, given the ruling, the TSA would no longer enforce the mandate, which had applied to commercial aircraft, buses, trains, ferries and subway systems, as well as transportation hubs.

I noted as well last week that Philadelphia reinstituted an indoor mask requirement, but so far, no other local authority has followed suit. This is a contrast from 202l, when local agencies were quick to tighten their own restrictions in response to similar moves elsewhere but reluctant to loosen them when the variouis waves peaked.

Individual choices are lagging behind official relaxations. Although outdoor masking rules in Los Angeles have been gone for many months, ordinary people wearing masks on the street are still common, and although indoor masking hasn't been required since February, I would estimate that roughly half those attending Easter mass wore masks. On the other hand, we're at least back to shaking hands with our friends at the peace.

It looks, though, like we're in the final stages of the 2020 moral panic.