News broke on Monday that the mask mandate will no longer be enforced by TSA. This means that airports can lift the requirement that has been in place for more than 2 years.

You don't have to wear a mask when flying...for now.

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A federal judge in Florida is the one who helped strike down the CDC's mask mandate for the time being. U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa ruled that the mandate actually "violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking."

According to Travel and Leisure, the ruling completely wipes away the requirement for travel in "planes, trains, and airports."

Hand luggage at the airport in front of an airplane
Ralf Geithe
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At this time, the decision and ruling that the Florida judge has made are both currently under review, according to multiple reports from the current Presidential administration. For the time being the mask mandate is no longer in effect.

The TSA released a statement late Monday night,

"Due to today’s court ruling, effective immediately, TSA will no longer enforce its Security Directives and Emergency Amendment requiring mask use on public transportation and transportation hubs. TSA will also rescind the new Security Directives that were scheduled to take effect tomorrow. CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks in indoor public transportation settings at this time."

This actually means different things for different airlines and airports. So, if you thought this was going to be easy to figure out, you were wrong.

Eastern Iowa Airport

In a tweet published on Tuesday morning, Eastern Iowa Airport will no longer require passengers, employees, or guests to wear face masks or coverings in the airport.

Des Moines International Airport

Short and simple. The Des Moines International Airport will not be requiring passengers to wear masks. However, no word on what this means for their flight staff.

Waterloo Regional Airport

I reached out to the Airport Director of the Waterloo Regional Airport Keith Kaspari, and he said that they too plan to definitely relax the mask mandates as soon as possible. All signage instructing individuals coming in and out of the airport has been removed, allowing "meeters" and "greeters" to enter without a mask, according to Kaspari.

"Now, that being said, and like most Iowa airports, we will leave it as 'optional' in that if a passenger wants to wear a mask, that is fine." the Airport Director explained.

Waterloo-Regional-Airport-Terminal
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"It will not be required, nor will the TSA screening personnel enforce the mask mandate."

However, Kaspari did confirm that TSA screeners on the other hand will still be wearing masks until they "receive formal guidance from the DHS-HQ to relax the mask mandate."

American Airlines, the only airline to run through Waterloo will no longer enforce the mask mandates either.

This is "hopefully another step forward of getting our country back to some semblance of normalcy."

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