It’s hard to figure out what the White House’s latest position is on mask requirements for transit and airplane travel.
After a federal judge threw out his executive order on mask requirements, Biden made a statement that almost made us fall out of our chairs.
The decision to wear or not to wear masks, Biden said, “is up to them” – by which he meant every individual citizen.
That’s exactly what we’ve been saying for two years now. So it’s not surprising that the media is going berserk over this flip flop. The New York Times fumed:
“President Biden said that Americans should decide for themselves whether to wear masks, undercutting efforts by his administration to urge Americans to keep wearing face coverings on airplanes, trains and buses.”
“The patchwork of messaging contributed to confusion less than 24 hours after the ruling was handed down. The president, caught somewhere between politics and science, left it up to Americans to make their own choices.”
“The administration’s confidence in its ability to enforce masking requirements conflicted with the broader reality that many masking regulations seemed to dissolve within hours of the ruling.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/
The White House later confirmed they will appeal the judge’s masking decision – but will not seek a stay while the appeal proceeds. As a practical matter, that means the mandate will remain gone for the foreseeable future and hopefully forever.
