GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A federal judge in Florida ruled the U.S. mask mandate on public public transportation, including airplanes, is unlawful.
But how does that ruling impact air travel in our area?
For the team at Green Bay’s Austin Straubel International Airport, it’s now a waiting game. Airport Director Marty Piette is watching to see whether the CDC will appeal the ruling.
“If the CDC appeals, the mask mandate stays in effect in the process of the appeal. If they don’t, then it will take time for the TSA to amend the security directive. I’m guessing it would take probably 24 hours to do that,” Piette told WTAQ News. “There’s not a lot we can do on our end except wait to see which course is chosen…Nothing changes. We still need to enforce the mask mandate for our TSA security directives…We’re going to continue to enforce it until told otherwise. We’ll just wait and see.”
While some may not feel comfortable quite yet, others are more than ready for the mandate to end.
“Well, it’s no secret that there’s been a pretty significant uptick in unruly passengers, and a lot of that has been attributed to the mask mandate and enforcement of it. So hopefully, it makes the skies a little friendlier,” Piette said. “For the most part, people are looking to the mask mandate going away. We’re kind of looking forward to it on our end in a way, I think it might help our partners, our tenants, employ more people and it might bring more people back to flying.”
If the CDC doesn’t appeal the decision, the mandate could disappear at Green Bay’s airport as early as Tuesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also said on Monday it had dropped its “Do Not Travel” COVID-19 recommendations for about 90 international destinations.
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