A ‘New Normal?’
Within days of a federal district judge’s ruling that ended the country’s federal mask mandate on public transit (like planes and trains), Dallas County lowered its COVID-19 risk level to green or the “new normal.”
Last week’s ruling did away with one of the last nationwide virus restrictions and led to a new patchwork of local rules across the country. After the ruling, Dallas Love Field and DFW Airport said they would no longer require masks for travelers or employees.
The Justice Department said it wouldn’t appeal the ruling unless the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believes the mask requirement is still necessary.
As reported in the Dallas Morning News, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said federal officials believe the mask requirement on public transit was “a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health,” while U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Florida said in her ruling said the CDC overstepped its authority in issuing the original order on which the TSA directive was based.
Read more from the Dallas Morning News here.
Dallas last week lowered its COVID-19 risk level to green or the “new normal.”
Officials say the move came amid COVID case and hospitalization levels reaching lows not seen since the beginning of the pandemic.
The county’s color-coded risk level chart, with red being the highest risk level and green being the lowest, was created at the beginning of the pandemic in hopes of informing residents about the activities public health experts deemed safe based on local case rates.
Read more from the Dallas Morning News here.
