Following a federal judge’s ruling last week, striking down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) mask mandate in airports and other public transportation settings nationwide, the agency’s ability to impose future restrictions is in doubt.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle found the mask mandate exceeded the CDC’s authority under federal public health law, and she put forth a narrow interpretation that would limit the agency’s ability to take actions intended to control the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne diseases. (Her opinion emphasizes that the word “sanitation” in the law authorizing CDC regulation does not extend to a mask, which “cleans nothing” and at most “traps virus droplets” but “neither ‘sanitizes’ the person wearing the mask nor ‘sanitizes’ the conveyance.”) Judge Mizelle also determined that the CDC failed to comply with administrative rulemaking procedures in issuing the mandate.
Most airlines immediately dropped their mask requirements for employees and passengers following the ruling, and the top rideshare companies have done the same. The Biden Administration has appealed the ruling, based on the CDC’s assessment that requiring masks in public transportation is necessary to protect public health.
So, while the status of masks in public transportation remains in doubt, what mandates are still in effect and what should employers do?
There are few remaining mask or vaccine mandates in the United States, as...
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