SF’s Muni and Caltrain Say Mask Mandate Still In Place (For Now)
A Monday ruling by a federal judge in Florida overturning mask mandates on public transportation doesn’t appear to be immediately changing most local transit agency policies, at least yet.
SFMTA, Caltrain, The Vine transit services, and Solano County Transit all say that riders and staff are still required to wear face coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at least through May 3, the previous end date for federal mask mandates.
BART still “officially” requires masks, but there are multiple reports that BART police have been instructed to no longer enforce masks.
MASK MANDATE UPDATES
– The San Francisco Chronicle Reports that BART police are no longer enforcing masks on BART
– SFO, OAK and SJC Airports drop their mask mandate within the airport
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of Florida ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not authorized to enforce the travel and transit mask mandate. The decision has sent local agencies scrambling to determine whether to honor the federal ruling or keep masking in place.
🚨Effective immediately: masks 😷 are optional for guests and employees at SFO. While masks are no longer required, guests and employees have the option to wear a mask during travel and while working. Please be kind and respect each other’s decision regarding masks.
— San Francisco International Airport (SFO) ✈️ (@flySFO) April 19, 2022
A spokesperson for BART said that the agency is currently figuring out what to do about the sudden change in federal guidelines. “We haven’t made an official or final determination yet,” said the BART spokesperson. “We are currently touching base with other transit agencies in the Bay Area and looking to see if there is any movement on the local, state or federal level about a mandate. Things moved quickly yesterday and the dust hasn’t settled yet.”
A spokesperson for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in Santa Clara County also said that masks are still being required “for today,” meaning Tuesday, but that the agency is currently deciding what to do about the reversed federal mandate.
Virtually all transit agencies still post a mask mandate on their websites, though it appears the posts were created before the change and not updated. Sonoma County Transit and the Alameda-Contra Transit District, better known as AC Transit, did not respond to inquiries about current masking requirements.
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