The Biden administration had no good options after a federal judge invalidated its mask mandates on public transportation Monday. Pushing back on the court’s ruling would put the administration at odds with a great many Americans who are tired of pandemic restrictions and anxious to resume normal life. On the other hand, the coronavirus still poses a danger to society, especially in the tight spaces of trains and planes.
The administration ultimately decided to appeal, based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As frustrating as that may be to many, it would make no sense — and set a dangerous precedent — to let one judge overrule federal health experts on government policy during a health crisis. The experience of Missouri on that judicial score should be a warning of the consequences to come, this time immersing the entire nation in pandemic-precaution chaos.
Unlike earlier in the pandemic, it isn’t irrational today to suggest ending mask mandates. Vaccination rates are high and, although coronavirus infection rates are again on the rise, death rates aren’t. Even some medical experts say it’s time to drop the mandates, if only so an exhausted public doesn’t start tuning out medical guidance altogether.
Other experts warn that it’s too early to know whether another deadly wave is coming, particularly with the BA.2 subvariant on the rise in Europe. Dropping pandemic safety measures prematurely, they warn, is like stopping firefighting efforts before the blaze is completely extinguished. The risk of it flaming back up is real.
This is, again, a rational medical debate to have among doctors, policymakers and the public. But the ruling by Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Donald Trump appointee in a conservative Florida judicial district, wasn’t based on medical issues. She ruled the government overstepped its power under the Public Health Service Act of 1944. This despite language in the act that gives the federal government broad authority over interstate travel in health emergencies. That the plaintiffs chose to file in Florida, where resistance to pandemic precautions runs high, was certainly no accident.
The Biden administration, to its credit, didn’t reflexively appeal the ruling but rather announced it would first seek guidance from the CDC. The Justice Department appealed Wednesday only after the CDC advised that the travel mandate should continue until it’s clear another wave isn’t coming with the new variant. Science, not politics, is the proper standard for making decisions related to the pandemic — as Missouri learned too well from the damaging efforts of politicians to politicize the pandemic here.
There is risk in the appeal because, should the administration lose in the higher courts, it could hamper federal responses to future pandemics. But the imperative of ensuring travel safety — while, hopefully, clarifying the authority of health officials during health emergencies — makes it worth the risk.
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