LA County responds to mask mandate ruling by reviving mandate
Los Angeles County re-instated its mask mandate on Friday in a seeming response to last week’s ruling by a federal Floriday judge that the federal mask mandate is unlawful.
“Public transportation hubs that are indoors are places where there is A, a lot of mingling, B, they are often crowded, and C, in some of those settings it’s really hard to have adequate ventilation,” said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer at a Thursday press briefing, according to CBS News.
“They are experts,” Ferrer continued. “They made a determination that at this point having that requirement in place is necessary for the public’s health, and that resonates with us.”
No scientific justification was given as to why the 10 million residents of the country’s largest county must once again wear masks indoors, particularly when new cases were higher during the mandate.
The county’s Metro Transit Agency added that “Metrolink will ask all passengers aboard Metrolink trains systemwide to once again wear a mask aboard all Metrolink trains and at station platforms.”
All individuals above the age of two will be required to wear masks.
As reported by Frontline News, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had recently decided to extend Biden’s mask mandate on public transportation to May 3rd. It was originally scheduled to expire on April 18th.
But U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled last Monday that the mandate must end immediately.
“Because our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends, the court declares unlawful and vacates the mask mandate,” the federal judge wrote. She added that the mandate “exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions.”
While Los Angeles County cannot force its residents to wear masks on flights, they will force them to wear them at airports.
