Florida and 20 other states are suing the federal government over mask mandates for airlines, trains and other forms of public transportation, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
The mandates have caused “unruly passenger situations,” because people “nibbling on peanuts for 2½ hours” can keep the masks off, but somebody reading can’t, DeSantis said. “It’s amazing it’s gone on as long as it has,” he said.
The lawsuit marked the latest clash between the federal government and Gov. DeSantis, who has pushed to close the curtain on what he calls “COVID theater” as coronavirus cases have dropped. Filed in federal court in Tampa, the lawsuit argues the federal government has shown an “outright disdain for the limits on its power — especially when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
President Joe Biden’s administration earlier this month extended requirements for travelers to wear masks on public transportation through April 18 at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The current CDC transit order, which has been in place since soon after Biden took office in January 2021, has been previously extended three times. It requires masks to be worn by all travelers on airplanes, ships, trains, subways, buses, taxis and ride-shares and at transportation hubs such as airports, bus or ferry terminals, train and subway stations, and seaports, Reuters reported.
Commuters have been mostly compliant with wearing masks on Tri-Rail, the commuter-rail system that runs across South Florida, but “as the pandemic has subsided, fewer of our riders are accepting the need to wear the masks,” said Steven Abrams, its executive director.
Officers who come through the Tri-Rail cars hand out free masks to passengers who don’t have them. “People do appreciate the masking on the rush-hour trains,” Abrams said. “But on other trains where people can easily spread out, there are clearly riders who don’t see the necessity.”
Recently, the CEOs of 10 airlines and cargo carriers signed a letter to Biden urging him to end the transportation mask mandate and testing requirements for international travelers. Airlines and travel groups had called on the White House to “repeal the federal mask mandate for public transportation, or provide a clear roadmap to remove the mask mandate within 90 days.”
The following states have joined Florida in the complaint: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.
“If politicians and celebrities can attend the Super Bowl unmasked, every U.S. citizen should have the right to fly unmasked,” DeSantis said in a prepared statement. “It is well past time to get rid of this unnecessary mandate and get back to normal life.”
The push to remove the required masks coincides with DeSantis’ stance that such mandates are unnecessary. Earlier this month, DeSantis made national news when he asked high school students to remove their masks during a news conference.
Also this month, state officials said they planned to recommend that healthy children not get vaccinated, which drew an outcry from the White House. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said at the time it was “absolutely not” good policy.
Masks do have a significant impact on curbing the spread of respiratory infectious disease, and certain people may still need to protect themselves, Dr. Marissa Levine, a University of South Florida College of Public Health professor, recently told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at [email protected] or 954-572-2008 or Twitter @LisaHuriash.
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