Former President Donald Trump's Surgeon General Jerome Adams went on Twitter Monday after a federal judge struck down President Joe Biden's travel mask mandate, asking the White House what its plan is to protect vulnerable populations against COVID-19.
"So now that masks are officially over, what's [the White House's] plan to: Vaccinate [children under 5], boost more adults, improve ventilation, make good fitting N95s [masks] available to all who want them, [and] make sure more than politicians and the media at parties get Paxlovid?," Adams said in a Twitter post. "Your move [President Biden]."
Adams posted on social media after U.S. District Court for the Middle district of Florida Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, sitting in Tampa, struck down the Biden administration's mandate that travelers on buses, trains, and planes had to wear masks, calling it "unlawful."
"It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of COVID-19. To that end, the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] issued the mask mandate," Mizelle, a Trump appointee, said in her 59-page decision Monday. "But the mandate exceeded the CDC's statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rule-making and failed to adequately explain its decisions."
She said the court had to declare the mandate "unlawful" because "our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends."
The decision in the case comes after Florida residents Sarah Pope, Ana Carolina Daza, and the Health Freedom Defense Fund sued the administration in July 2021, charging the CDC violated the Administrative Procedure Act by not allowing the public to comment on the travel mask mandate, which was created through an executive order by Biden on the first day of his administration, according to court documents.
The CDC maintained that holding such procedural public comment periods would be "impracticable and contrary to public health."
The mandate required travelers to "wear a mask while boarding, disembarking, and traveling on any conveyance into or within the United States."
It also applied while in airports, train stations, bus terminals, marinas, or seaports, subway stations, or any other location that provides transportation, according to the court documents.
The only exceptions were for children under the age of two, and people with disabilities that did not allow them to wear a mask.
A White House official told NPR after the ruling that the mandate was no longer in effect.
"The agencies are reviewing the decision and assessing potential next steps. In the meantime, today's court decision means CDC's public transportation masking order is not in effect at this time," a Biden administration official told NPR after the ruling. "Therefore, TSA will not enforce its Security Directives and Emergency Amendment requiring mask use on public transportation and transportation hubs at this time."