On Monday, a Florida federal judge, Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mandate requiring masks while traveling on planes, trains and automobiles, assuming the last of those is an Uber or a cab. She declared the regulation an overreach of government power.
In divided America, the news was greeted with a predictable binary of alarm and glee: many passengers and a White House spokeswoman expressed dismay, but some pilots even announced the change in the middle of their flights Monday, causing delighted customers to de-mask triumphantly at 30,000 feet.
Local media, rushing to airports such as Chicago’s O’Hare International to acquire comment, could find someone to say pretty much whatever they wanted them to say. At this point in the COVID-19 pandemic, endless as it feels, the arguments are well known and well worn.
