US Airlines raced to remove mask requirements today after 35 year old Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle vacated the CDC mandate based on the agency exceeding its authority.
But nothing happened until the Biden administration announced shortly after the ruling, that the TSA would no longer enforce the mask mandate.
The Biden administration was in a tough place. Popular opinion in the country is that we should be done with COVID precautions. But with BA.2 cases increasing, it would face heavy criticism for removing the mask mandate, so the administration extended the mandate by 1 month and then 2 weeks to buy itself time. That wouldn’t have helped as it’s unlikely we’ll know any more in 2 weeks. I think that the judge did the administration a favor by striking down the mandate, as it allows an off ramp for an unpopular mask mandate. The administration now has cover and can say that its hands were tied. Perhaps it was even waiting for an outcome like this?
For that reason, I don’t expect the administration to appeal the decision. Appealing the decision would also risk having the Supreme Court set precedent by ruling to limit federal powers such as these in the future, though a loss may still be narrow enough to avoid that. Even a Supreme Court ruling in Biden’s favor may prove to hurt the administration by declaring that war on COVID hasn’t been won, when the administration needs it to be won well before the midterm elections.
In a scene that happened on many flights this evening, an announcement was made at boarding that mask requirements were still in place despite the judge’s ruling:
But while in the air, policies changed.
Airlines sent their pilots ACARS messages letting them know about the rule change, telling them to play the hero:
The actual ACARS message to Soutwest Airlines flight staff making masks optional. @catturd2 @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/idFECtLIuG
— BOOSTER TRIBE 4/20+69 (@Michael10711597) April 19, 2022
And flight attendants, pilots, and passengers in the air cheered and celebrated the change:
It’s official!! First mask optional mask tonight!! I hope I can find my lipstick in my bag! pic.twitter.com/FUzkiztGA9
— StephMillerB (@MillerRosePhoto) April 18, 2022
The videos are just surreal. Crew and passengers feel victorious and elated in ways perhaps not seen since ticker-tape parades were held after World War II.
https://twitter.com/jacklanger/status/1516226069514305546?t=DJIEsa7iaW-Aug1s-zo2eg&s=08
Pilots compared the news to 9/11 and other crazy times in the nation’s history.
Perhaps on some level, this feels like the end of the 2 years of COVID. Whether that’s truly the case or not was irrelevant for celebrations 7 miles up in the air.
JUST NOW @JETBLUE PILOT MAKES MID FLIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT OF MASKS NO LONGER BEING REQUIRED ON JETBLUE! This is history!! pic.twitter.com/qBQpGipSwp
— Gianni (@sythergonred) April 19, 2022
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. This is the most important announcement I’ve ever made. The federal mask mandate is over. Take off your mask if you choose!”
A wonderful moment mid flight on @alaskaair today! pic.twitter.com/nWSatDRB83
— Ben Dietderich (@ben_dietd) April 18, 2022
Delta Airlines says masks are no longer required on their flights pic.twitter.com/2FNcL1UCMd
— LeGate (founder @ GoodPillow™) (@williamlegate) April 18, 2022
😷MASK MANDATE LIFTED😷
Myself, and a couple hundred others, just learned mid-flight that the mask mandate is over?!
The @Delta Airlines staff just got on the intercom to announce the mandate is lifted and now optional!
Cheers followed the announcement!
@cbsdenver @cbsnews pic.twitter.com/j5tLM01c9g
— Dillon Thomas (@DillonMThomas) April 19, 2022
Plane applauded as the stewardess announced the end of the mandate. She broke into tears as she got to take off her mask for the first time in 2 years 😭 pic.twitter.com/WlCpZk30QM
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) April 19, 2022
https://twitter.com/guy_p_football/status/1516233320430018564
Reactions from many people on Twitter were angry, with people incredulous that the news onboard planes was greeted so enthusiastically. But perhaps that shows just how much of an echo chamber social media can be.
I was all for mask requirements at the beginning of the pandemic as we had few other tools in our shed. It was a long-shot, but we hoped that it would be a band-aid until the vaccine was released which we hoped would end the pandemic. But once vaccines were widely available, the rationale for continuing mask requirements became weaker by the day. Unfortunately, COVID-19 proved far more adept than the measles and other viruses in mutating and evading vaccine immunity, which is why it isn’t going away anytime soon and will likely prove to be an endemic seasonal virus.
Requiring mask mandates forever was just not tenable. Nor did masks prove to help in places like Hong Kong with nearly perfect mask compliance. The time was overripe for them to end. Nothing was gained with cloth masks that were removed during mealtime. And nothing will stop the immunocompromised from wearing properly fitted N95s to protect themselves going forward.
What do you think about the end of masking requirements? Do you think the requirements will return again?
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94 Comments On "Celebrations Break Out In Mid-Air As Mask Requirements Are Removed; Is This The Ideal Mask Off-Ramp For The Biden Administration?"
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Imagine (lehavdil) when they announce moshiach’s arrival on all the planes!
Can’t wait!
Honestly expected that to come before the removal of the mask mandate
Here’s Dan’s double singing about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqnXGkYbNFc
What about testing to enter the United States?
Still in effect for now. At least until someone sues and a judge vacates that mandate as well.
Biden’s afikomen present!
Whoever is upset may feel free to continue wearing masks when they fly.
And you’ll be wearing them again when cases rise. So enjoy these few weeks of freedom. We intelligent, science-trusting people will wear them as recommended.
Are you trolling?
The hasidic Jewish communities in Brooklyn have been waiting for two years for this “deadly wave” to come from not wearing masks and social distancing. We’re beginning to think it’s may not be so true
Study shows “NY, Calif. failed in handling of COVID — but Florida was among best”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/states-of-covid-performance-economic-schools-study-working-paper-lockdowns-11649621806
That wasn’t exactly a rigorous study and it didn’t demonstrate anything. For example, it’s measure I’m education outcomes was time in classroom, excluding any time in virtual school. So in a very circular way, all the study said was that states that had lockdowns had less time in classroom and states without lockdowns had more time in classroom. That’s obvious and doesn’t indicate any valid measure of educational outcomes.
Just like every other study done. (Including those you choose to believe)
That’s not how it works. I choose to trust studies that are methodologically and ethically sound, not logical black holes or conducted by people with conflicts of interest, both of which apply to this one.
כהרף עין
My Southwest flight to Orlando (maybe the first SW flight without the mask requirement) cheered the announcement as well.
Finally. However I hope that passengers won’t fly when symptomatic. I’ve had flights where I’m cringing because an adjacent passenger is coughing up a lung and sneezing.
If not for Covid, would coughing really bother you that much? And are you at risk from whatever variant is around now?
I have to say, I had fewer colds with the mask mandate in place. I hope people use common sense and still mask off they don’t feel well
Agreed. It’s common courtesy. I also believe that you must confirm that you’re not symptomatic in order to check in.
thats a great new normal idea!
Your immune system gets destroyed by masks
And primed by colds, that’s the reason children are not affected by covid, there immune system is primed by the common corona colds
Not so sure coughing is really a symptom of covid anymore. My entire family and I have had it, as have many friends – none of us had coughs.
Any update with int’l airlines arriving or departing USA? Do they base it on their own countries rules, or based on O&D?
Canceled 2 flights. I’m sure the increase in cases means this is temporary.
Airlines know us wealthy, intelligent people won’t fly without masks being required. The poor hayseed Trumpers don’t fly much besides low revenue fares.
Correct.
Wealthy people fly private
Oh Karen… stay home. Save a life.
Being intelligent, as you stated, you presumably meant “Airlines know [that] we wealthy, intelligent people…”, not “us”.
Don’t you know better than to argue facts with a libby? They’ll just cower & Ignore, if not they’ll divert the topic
Please stay home Karen. Make sure to wear you N95 when In your car alone since COVID May be in the Air.
Biggest fools are Fauci and you.
#Trump2024
Are you trolling ? We intelligent people know masks are worthless
Covid fear was for political use
Wow! We got rid of masks and elitists like you in one day!
I’m sure airlines are happy if less Karen’s and Brads fly, less inflight drama to deal with! Your hypocrisy is un-canning, fly private if you are unhappy with the court decision. That’s what many of the “poor Hasidic Trumpers” did when you were flying commercial with your 3 masks on!
This just goes to show, that retroactively, these disposable masks were NEVER a deterrent to Covid. Covid is spread airborne. A worthless mask or a plastic partition by the bima was all for show, for theater. Now we can sit back and say, who was the idiot???
It’s easy to say that now, but this wasn’t known in March 2020.
In Europe, airlines switched to N95s when that became known. In the US that didn’t happen.
Still shows we weren’t following science.
Same with quarantine, when scientist tried saying they didn’t work they were shut up, however science proves that it was useless.
That’s because scientists don’t actually make public policy, politicians do.
“So in retrospect who was the idiot”
Therein lies the problem.
If covis was that deadly. How was flying safe at all ?
If masks are effective How did they let you remove it when eating or drinking ?
Conclusion it was all a bunch of garbage
Ok ill bite…..
I did not vote for Biden. I am no progressive….
I am happy that the mandate was lifted. I wont wear one when I travel next in the future. However, to borrow your phrase your argument is “garbage”.
If masks have a positive effect, however slight, the more you wear them the more protection you have. It is possible wearing them on flights especially before the vaccine lowered the risk of flying to an acceptable level.
Taking them off briefly to eat does not negate the possible protection one gets from wearing them the rest of the time. Its all about tradeoffs and lowering risk thresholds.
I just believe these decisions can be made by individuals and private businesses, for the most part.
Well I flew out of Trenton today around 4:30pm after hearing the news from no one other than @dansdeals himself and I asked the crew if they were dropping the requirement, the response was NO!
It’s a shame because the Stewardess on flight kept on enforcing it even when we landed and getting off the plane!
That was after the mandate ended, but before the airlines dropped their own rules.
do we have any info yet on how this will effect international travel to israel on elal?
So does it mean that this stupid tyranny by these nincompoop stewards will come to an end, or is it a new era where those ego inflated lowlife stewards will forever remain little putins, and the stupid airlines kicking off anyone that doesn’t go along with the tyranny?
Wait, some actual GOOD NEWS?? Pinch me, I must be dreaming.
Send me your address and come right on over.
All the bad things happen when Jewish people get involved in politics. Just have your faith and shut up. And stop voting for Pigs no matter what political party they are.
Yeah, the next thing is to remove the speed limits and seatbelt requirements and let all stupid people die. I can’t wait to see that.
If there wouldn’t be speed limits, people would crash into OTHER people.
Highways with no speed limits have LESS accidents.
Masks never helped. It was all a pretense of “doing something” but has over and over again been proven ineffective.
https://www.city-journal.org/the-failed-covid-policy-of-mask-mandates
We all know that if Trump Air was still around, they wouldn’t make masks optional. They would downright ban masks.
Yes we do.
“Reactions from many people on Twitter were angry, with people incredulous that the news onboard planes was greeted so enthusiastically. But perhaps that shows just how much of an echo chamber social media can be.”
Be mindful of your own bias here. DD itself is an echo chamber across multiple social media. I think the issue here is one of salience. I am an evidence-based doctor who works in a hospital and has treated scores of Covid patients. Based on my knowledge and the credible scientific evidence, I believe masking is still necessary for prevention (which always takes precedence in public health above treatment) and protection of the many who are at high risk (e.g., immunocompromised like myself).
However, the people who believe in masking and the people who are at high risk are in the vast minority. As such, I assure you that they are indeed on the planes but that because of the social pressures of being in the minority mean that they’re not going to be speaking up and asking that all those celebrating, shouting people wear their masks. So you don’t see them, and you don’t hear them. But they are there, and they are not few. Lol yisrael areivim ze la’zeh.
Similarly, the question of salience applies to consequences of infection. The most salient consequence is death. Deaths are down, as our hospitalizations, so it’s understandable to think that Covid is gone, or harmless. But less salient is the chronic if not lifelong dysfunction that long-Covid brings. They are not as easily reported in sound bites or statistics, so you don’t see them, and you don’t hear them. But they are there, and they are not few (yes, even in Chassidic communities that never masked).
Well yes. We all have our own echo chambers.
Had we switched to N95s when they became available, the argument to ditch them would be harder as those actually did something.
Most people just don’t think that a flimsy cloth mask (taken off while eating or drinking) was anything but COVID theatre. The fact that COVID numbers in places like Hong Kong spiraled out of control despite perfect cloth mask compliance is also worth looking into
The virus doesn’t care about people’s opinions about hygiene theatre. Masking is effective prevention (see below for credible evidence, not just opinions). Again, the problem is one of perception. If the perception is that scientists are saying masks will provide 100% protection, then of course exceptions like Hong Kong will disprove that.
But science doesn’t speak in absolutes. Masking (meaning actual masking, not mask mandates that aren’t enforced or complied with) is effective at preventing a significant amount, but not all, of transmission. Yes, there are outbreaks even with masking. And there would be many more without.
I understand that I’m unlikely to change anyone’s mind at this point. Again, the virus doesn’t care about opinions, it cares about getting into your body. The scientific method is the best system we have for learning about the world, and it’s built on controlling for biases and opinions.
Here’s a review of some real-life (not laboratory) masking outcomes on Covid transmission.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fmore%2Fmasking-science-sars-cov2.html#anchor_1634654801820
The headline study of your page is the one from Bangladesh. That study showed that masks might do something, but it was such a small difference that it was not worth bothering people about. And that is the key point. Might masks do something? Maybe. Is it enough to be a mandate and make everyone crazy about, definitely not. Boeing and United did a really detailed study of COVID on planes. They found that unless you sat next to the person with COVID, you weren’t going to get it. Did masks make a difference in particle distribution – yes, but a teeny tiny one, again not worth bothering with. Fauci told us the truth once, and only once, when he said you didn’t need masks and that they certainly don’t provide anything like the protection you think you are getting, it just makes you feel like you are doing something. In other words, it was just theater.
That’s one study with positive outcome that you’re content to dismiss. I’m wondering whether you actually read past the first bullet point. That’s a good explanation for why these perceptions persist. It’s easy to dismiss findings when you ignore data.
Here’s more
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8046247/
Prof SOLA
so you’re “an evidence-based doctor who works in a hospital and has treated scores of Covid patients.”
Any idea about the size of a covid virus? A. = 0.1 micron
Any idea about the filtration of N95 mask? A. = 0.3 micron
And that’s the N95, not the paper or cloth ones. So do the math my dear “evidence-based doctor”. The virus spores go right through. Not rocket science, just plain mathematics.
Oy very, Maier. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The viruses aren’t floating around naked. They’re bound in saliva and mucus droplets and aerosols in a range of sizes all large enough to be blocked by a mask. (That’s also one reason lower humidity increases transmission – it speeds the evaporation of the droplets, leaving them lighter and more prone to stay aloft longer.)
I hope you’re at least not one of those people who also say masks keep carbon dioxide in and oxygen out – those are literally atoms many orders of magnitude smaller than the naked virus that you say can freely pass through.
Also, some masks like N95s don’t filter by size alone. They are electrostatically charged so they can attract and capture particles that are physically smaller than their spaces.
Least don’t quote the cdc as proof for anything.
Sola – THANK YOU SO MUCH for bringing a breath of fresh air into this increasingly depressing conversation. Despite what this thread shows, there are millions of us that understand what the scientific method is and trust that people who have dedicated their lives to science (yourself included) know more than those of us who have not. Celebrating the “freedom” to give and get a disease we are still learning about makes no sense to me. I’ll continue to protect myself, my loved ones, and yes, even the people in my community who don’t care/resent my caring for them, by wearing a mask when in public, especially when flying in a communal metal tube.
I am still masking buy;
You mean to say that you will continue to partly protect yourself and loved ones. The surgical masks are limited in effectiveness. The KN95 might be better but they are not absolute protection because of the gaps and openings and improper use.
Thanks for the chizuk. It’s been a jarring journey from working on the front lines and seeing the tragedies unfolding (we even had to expand our morgue during Omicron) to being out in the community where opinions and emotions usurp objective evidence, and the resulting behaviors just drag this whole thing on and on, creating a feedback loop of people being frustrated and fed up. It’s hard for everyone, and I don’t blame anyone.
Hmm so why are they the minority on the plane?
Misconstruing what was said is something you’ve been doing the last 2 years. Covid is not gone as was never said by anyone. What was said, “it’s a waste of time” or we can’t keep it up forever. Keep up your lies get out of your bubble learn Shar habitachon
Yeah, they just put it on t-shirts.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09DHS661W?tag=cl03f-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
If you are worried about catching covid from unmasked people if you are vaccinated and masked than you need therapy imo.
There are many risk factors for breakthrough infection of vaccinated people, for example this recent study of veterans finding with mental illness are more likely to experience Covid infection following vaccination.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2791033
Again, masking isn’t perfect protection, and works less the less others are masked.
Well, this is what we get when a judge with appallingly minimal legal experience (Mizelle was rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Association prior to her appointment by Trump) and zero public health experience weighs in on a politicized public health issue.
Per significant legal precedent, the CDC was absolutely not overstepping their authority.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2112193
So let them appeal.
Right on schedule.
Hi Dan,
I disagree with the fact that because a judge dropped it was better for the administration because
1. The fact that it came from the courts shows how there was never a real legal basis for it (the same way the court shot down the workplace vaccine mandate)
2. It will be remembered that it needed to be done by a court, meaning the Biden administration is just a bunch of radicals (and it will only continue to hurt the Dems). If the Biden administration would do it themselves then their chances of trying to recover their stupidities would have some hope.
3. Airline CEOs were pleading for a while to have these dropped and they were ingnored
4. These new variants for all practical purposes won’t cause any real damage. Most of the country is already immune through the vaccine or natural immunity.
The proof will be in the pudding. Let’s see if the Biden admin will challenge the ruling or if they’re secretly happy about it and let it stand without appeal.
This ruling gives them cover for anything that goes wrong going forward. Even more so that it came from a Trump/lame duck session appointed judge. It’s not dissimilar to using Russia as cover for inflation.
Are you saying that inflation is not because of Russia?
I’m saying inflation was spiraling out of control many months before Russia invaded Ukraine.
That was just transitory..
So what does this mean?
“Press secretary Jen Psaki on mask ruling: ‘Public health decisions shouldn’t be made by the courts, they should be made by public health experts.'”
“Public health decisions shouldn’t be made by the courts, they should be made by public health experts.”
What about people like Falchi who would’nt be relied on even about the time-of-day as he would some how, probably be making $$$ on that too.
The mask maybe made sense the first 30 days of the start of the pandemic, to try to curb an unknown virus, but after that its pointless. Trusty Fauci, said himself it wasn’t a good idea or necessary, then he said he said that because he didn’t want everyone to hoard the masks. The left probably had seen a opportunity to instill fear. The libs weren’t crying to him about that flop, strange. We now have the Trump vaccine, you know, the ones the left said they would never take, we have more data now, and weakened variants that don’t effect the lungs.
” But with BA.2 cases increasing, it would face heavy criticism for removing the mask mandate” -q: by whom? a few fringe forever maskers or fake news media??
please ask the 10% who voted no to explain clearly why?
Read the comments.
So much ignorance in America when people be believe masks and mitigations don’t work while some of us doctors have been treating Covid patients over 2 years with proper masks and have never been infected . In Japan people wear masks even since before Covid when they’re sick , intelligent on their part
Chinese have been wearing masks outdoors ALWAYS even before covid yet were hit hard
You know what they say… Even the person who graduated last in their class in med school is called “doctor”. Nice to meet you, Dr. Lauren. No doubt last in your class.
Good point. The Japanese people never die. Because they wear disposable masks, they live forever.
Nope, it’s because they bombed Pearl Harbor. That makes more saichel.
זמן חריתינו
Hey Dan. What’s the point of noting that the judge is 35 years old? Would you have noted their age if they were 46 or 58 or 72?
Does being 35 disqualify this judge from making a ruling?
Same reason why it would be notable if a Super Bowl winning quarterback was 18.