Mask Requirement Lifted for Public Transportation

Less than a week after the CDC extended the mask mandate through May 3rd, 2022, for public transportation, a federal judge in Florida ruled that the CDC had overstepped its authority and voided the requirement.

The new ruling means that all public transportation, buses, trains, airports, subways, etc. can now make it optional to require a mask to be worn by passengers.

Today Meridian Regional Airport announced that they would be following TSA’s recommendation to allow passengers to decide if they want to wear a mask or not.

“So, the rules have gone from a required mask to no requirement for a mask. So if you choose to wear one, obviously you should wear one. We will still have masks available if you want one here at the airport, but it's on the airplane and in the terminal building. It is still optional” stated Tom Williams, President of Airport Authority. “Now, some airports may choose to require masks. I'm not aware of any right now, but this just happened less than 24 hours ago. So I think people are still finding their way through the implementation process.”

For the past two years, people have been required to wear a mask inside airports and on while being inside an airplane, now that there is no longer a requirement, Williams says he is afraid that it could cause more problems.

“Unfortunately, I'm afraid that this might cause more conflict than when everyone did have to wear a mask. You know, they complained to the airlines about disagreements over mask-wearing. Well, now that it's optional and you have a group that feels very strongly that they should continue to wear masks and then a group that does not want to wear a mask, I think it will probably cause more conflict than a consistent rule across the board”

The optional mask ruling immediately went into effect after the judge's ruling, Meridian Regional Airport followed suit Tuesday morning by taking down all of its mask-required signs.