LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County has reinstated its own mask requirement for public transit and transportation sites such as airports, even though the federal mask mandate was struck down earlier this week by a Florida judge.
The Los Angeles Times reports the rule went into effect at 12:01 a.m. today (Friday, April 22), with county public health director Barbara Ferrer citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s view that a mask requirement “remains necessary for the public health.” That determination has led the U.S. Justice Department to appeal Monday’s ruling by judge Kathyrn Kimball Mizelle, who called the mask requirement “unlawful.”
LA-area commuter rail operator Metrolink had dropped its mask requirement on Monday, while the LA Metro light rail and bus system did so on Tuesday.
Who benefits from maintaining the fear? Not the readers of Trains.
Approved N95 masks are adjustable for tight fit that should require effort to breathe, like climb two flights of stairs and be out of breath. Sure, they work, but in my hospital visits, in the outpatient clinics, corridors and cafeteria most were loosely adjusted for easy breathing. Cuts the intended level of effective protection in practical application.
Ah the left wingnut state of California! Get place to stay out of until this state wakes up and throws out the likes of their gubbener and pillosi! This state also foisted upon us the current freeloader VP embHarrisment!
At this point Covid is endemic, wearing of a mask is a personal choice issue. California politicians seem to be hell bent on creating a bottomless cess pool, things will change only when the voters drown in stool. Personally I have canceled use of transportation that requires me to use a suffocating N95 Let the riders who object abandon transport modes with gulag rules and use high pollution alternatives
Nobody is forcing any one to take public transportation. But just like everything else if you’re using their product or on their property (no matter the provider) they make the rules not you.
Mr Reiter I thought as supporters of rail we were supposed to support increased use of public transit, you miss my point that the rule makers seem to be stupid jerks [I am a health care post Doc and know a bit about the subject] and think at this point it should be the right of an individual to make a personal choice and not foist it on others.
Mr. Fine, if you are what you say you are, then you no very well that N95 and KN95 masks are NOT suffocating, that is your personal opinion, and not a fact(otherwise how could medical professionals wear them all day, or anyone that is required to wear such a mask all day at work).
Feeling of suffocation is a mental state . How good it feels to easily breathe fresh air [not rebreathe my exhaled used trapped breath] Let me assure you medical professionals practicing in non sterile areas despise them by a large majority
Interesting thought process for a public health post doc. Please explain
My thoughts as a physcian and public health veteran of 25 year. Public Transit users by their demographics and particularly in LA are largely members at higher risk for getting COVID and other airborne diseases and MORE IMPORTANTLY having bad outcomes including death. Additionally, those with disabilities that put them at higher risk for bad outcomes are generally poorer and thus more dependent on public transit. Drivers and other workers on LA transit are also more likely to be from minority groups who have an increased risk of poor outcomes. Masks work to decrease spread of airborne disease– that is why they are worn in surgery after all– and specifically COVID19 in observational studies and mechanical simulations
Finally, as a scientist I hope you would agree that you would rather have health scientists having bigger input on the decission then some lawyer, especially one who was rated unqualified to be a Judge by her professional colleagues.
JACOB — The judge ruled by law, not by science. She ruled (though some disagree with her ruling) that CDC does not have the legal authority to order masks through executive order, in the way that CDC did so.
Jacob, if you want masks required, then contact your two Senators and your representative. That’s how laws are supposed to be made, not by CDC. That neither Presidents #45 nor #46 went to Congress to have this put into law tells you everything you need to know about how the voters feel about this.
Finally, Jacob, if I thought masks would be of use in this health problem I’d be the first to wear one. I don’t. And the fact that masks are all but extinct in my suburban county should tell you I’m not the only one with that opinion.
So you are against scientific evidence then Mr. Landey? There’s plenty of scientific studies out there that show N95 and KN95 masks prevent transmission of airborne disease(not just COVID, but almost all airborne disease), yet you state if you thought it would be of use in this problem you’d wear one. Well, let me tell you, I work in a highly infectious environment according to the CDC(an airport), and I haven’t felt healthier than the last 2 years…not even a single sniffle from a cold(which is also a coronavirus, mind you), and that’s just wearing surgical masks. However, having said that, I freely believe that now, at this time, it should be the choice of the individual whether or not to wear one. I personally stopped wearing one when not required months ago, but not because it doesn’t work, precisely the opposite reason actually, and I know my own health. Technically, the order for transportation didn’t come from the CDC, it came from the DHS. So in essence the lawsuit was filed against the wrong agency, except you can’t sue a cabinet level agency, so they had to find a work around.
Thanks Howard for your post. I’m taking my first Amtrak/ Metra ride since the mask requirement.
I find it delicious that Philadelphia reinstated its mask requirement for indoors then had to drop it after a few days. Now Los Angeles. Both cities have surging violent crime rates and no one wants to go to either.
I have been in the two cities a total of three times, most recently 49 years ago, and I hope never again to see either.
In Philadelphia, businesses complained that, with the city masked and the suburbs unmasked, customers would stay away in droves.
Even SEPTA declared its stations Federally Regulated and thus no mask requirement. That led to the absurdity at the Airport: no mask on the train; put on a mask in the city-owned terminal; take it off on the airplane.
When no other jurisdiction required masks (California came later) the politicians convinced the bureaucrats to drop the mask requirement.