The Undead Mask Mandate

Via Reuters:

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to overturn a U.S. District Court judge's April order that declared the government mandate requiring masks on airplanes, buses and in transit hubs unlawful.

Hours after the federal judge in Florida declared the mandate unlawful, the Biden administration said it would no longer enforce it.

The Justice Department told the appeals court that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order issued in January 2021 was "within" the agency's legal authority.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on whether it would reinstate the requirement if the ruling was overturned.

Days before U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball's April 18 order, the CDC had extended mask requirements through May 3. The CDC said earlier this month it still recommends travelers continue to wear masks in airplanes, trains and buses.

Although some localities still require masks in medical facilities, as far as I'm aware, the last public mask mandate of any kind is for airport, rail, and transit stations and conveyances in Los Angeles County. At LAX Airport, it's largely disregarded:

Heartening: at LAX they're blasting the audio message "YOU ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR A MASK THAT COVERS YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE IN THE TERMINAL" but three quarters of travelers are maskless and totally ignoring it 🇺🇸

— Noah Pollak (@NoahPollak) May 30, 2022

This flouting of the rule at LAX goes back to the earliest days following the Florida judge's ruling. As of April 23, a traveler reported:

I arrived on United Airlines in Terminal 8 to messages over the loudspeaker reminding people to mask up. There were also signs noting that masks were again required.

But I’d put compliance at less than 50%…which is really a striking indictment of the public officials in Los Angeles County.

And it wasn’t just passengers: I was very tempted to take a picture of three unmasked United flight attendants standing in front of the sign above. But it was just too obvious…and I would not want to get them in trouble at this point in time. I also noted several gate agents who were not wearing masks. Nor were the TSA officers I passed. Or the LAX Police officers I saw in the baggage claim area. In short, the people who arguably should be “setting the example” were instead flouting the rule.

It’s an amazing lesson that the people will only respect rules when they believe those rules are rooted in legitimacy. At this point, people are so over masking up that they will no longer respect clear and umbagious rules. And clearly there seems no appetite to enforce such rules at LAX.

I've already noted that the Metrolink rail transit system has publicly said it's "asking" riders to wear masks in reponse to the county order, but it is not enforcing it.

Meanwhile, Monkeypox was briefly a thing about two weeks ago until it was generally recognized that it wasn't. As Alex Berenson noted on his Substack,

You can almost feel the public health authorities squirming right now.

On the one hand, they’ve almost got another epidemic on the go - the perfect way to distract the shiny-haired robots in the media from the complete failure of the mRNA vaccines.

On the other, the monkeypox epidemic - stop me if you’ve heard this before - very much appears to be centered around the sexual practices of gay men.

They told me I should set up an appointment for another COVID booster. Sigh. I guess I should, if only to keep being able to go around without a mask.