Masks now optional at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

ATLANTA - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will no longer requiring mandatory masks after a federal judge in Florida struck down the national mask mandate.

In a statement Tuesday, Atlanta's airport said masks are now optional for employees, passengers, and visitors to Hartsfield-Jackson.

SOME AIRLINE EMPLOYEES PUSH BACK AGAINST CDC MASK MANDATE

"Although a mask mandate will no longer be enforced, employees, passengers, and visitors are reminded that masks continue to offer a level of protection against the COVID virus," an airport spokesman said.

The airport's decision comes a day after the Transportation Security Administration announced it wouldn’t enforce a January 2021 security directive that applied to airplanes, airports, taxis and other mass transit.

In a 59-page lawsuit ruling, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority in issuing the original health order on which the TSA directive was based. She also said the order was fatally flawed because the CDC didn’t follow proper rulemaking procedures.

Mizelle, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said the only remedy was to throw out the mandate for the entire country because it would be impossible to end it only for the people who objected in the lawsuit.

The White House said the mask order "is not in effect at this time" and called the court decision disappointing.

DELTA, OTHER AIRLINES MAKE MASKS OPTIONAL EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY 

The Justice Department declined to comment on whether it would seek an emergency stay to block the judge’s order. The CDC also declined to comment.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines quickly announced that it was making masks optional - one of the half dozen airlines that made the announcement at the start of the week.

Travelers walk into US customs at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. (Photo by Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"Effective immediately, masks are optional for all airport employees, crew members and customers inside U.S. airports and on board aircraft, as well as on most international flights," a Delta spokesperson said. "Delta employees and customers may continue wearing masks if they so choose. Wearing a well-fitting mask protects the wearer, even if others around them are not wearing masks."

The CDC had recently extended the mask mandate, which was set to expire Monday, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron subvariant of the coronavirus now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the U.S. But the court ruling puts that decision on hold.

Since the pandemic began two years ago, many state or local governments had issued various orders requiring masks to be worn inside schools, restaurants, stores or elsewhere. The rules were largely rolled back as the deadliest, most infectious months of the pandemic eased.

But the national rule for travelers remained and was arguably the most widespread, visible and irksome measure of its kind.

The wearing of masks aboard airplanes sparked online flame throwing between those who felt they were crucial to protecting people and those who saw it as an unnecessary inconvenience or even government overkill.

Some flight attendants found themselves cursed and even attacked by passengers who refused to comply.

The lawsuit was filed in July 2021 by two plaintiffs and the Health Freedom Defense Fund, described in the judge’s order as a nonprofit group that "opposes laws and regulations that force individuals to submit to the administration of medical products, procedures and devices against their will."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.